Hello, thank you for sharing your story. My son is autistic Level 1 without speech impairment. His dad shares a similar diagnosis to yours, and I can see the differences between someone who masks and someone who doesn’t.
In my experience, my son seems more authentically himself and less socially stressed, though his sensory system can still become overwhelmed. Masking, for my husband, appears taxing and exhausting in many ways.
I hope whatever you decide for yourself aligns with how you see yourself, not just how the world or society might expect you to be.
Congratulations on the diagnosis.
You might find this helpful for unmasking: https://jadefarrington.substack.com/p/delving-into-the-complexity-of-unmasking
Thanks! I've read your stuff in the past and really liked it! I'm excited to read it.
Thank you, I'm glad past stuff has been useful!
My favorite part of the article is calling masking “projecting acceptability” - that is so true. That’s a really helpful way to think about it.
It's great isn't it? That's Kieran's conceptualisation and I think it sums it up really well!
Hello, thank you for sharing your story. My son is autistic Level 1 without speech impairment. His dad shares a similar diagnosis to yours, and I can see the differences between someone who masks and someone who doesn’t.
In my experience, my son seems more authentically himself and less socially stressed, though his sensory system can still become overwhelmed. Masking, for my husband, appears taxing and exhausting in many ways.
I hope whatever you decide for yourself aligns with how you see yourself, not just how the world or society might expect you to be.
Gosh, thank you so much for that. That means a lot.