Masking: What we know (and don’t know) from research

What is masking?

The research into masking has generally focused on experiences of autistic people, and so in research we tend to talk about ‘autistic masking’. The term ‘camouflaging’ is also used, which can mean the same thing: hiding or changing aspects of yourself (whether consciously or not), to appear more neurotypical. Although we know that other neurodivergent people (such as those with ADHD) also mask, the research is still quite limited in this area, so in this article I’ll be focusing on research into autistic people’s experiences of masking. 

Autistic masking is sometimes defined as hiding, compensating, or changing your autistic characteristics, in order to fit in with others or appear less autistic [1]. It’s important to note that this can be something that is done very consciously and deliberately (for instance, practicing facial expressions in front of the mirror to make them seem more neurotypical).

Masking can also be automatic and done without people even being aware they are masking (such as hiding stims or repeated movements when you are with other people). Masking is different for everyone, but some common ways that people might mask include forcing themselves to make eye contact (or making it look as though they are making eye contact, for instance by looking at someone’s ears rather than their eyes); copying other people’s gestures to learn what is appropriate in a specific situation; and feeling as though they are ‘performing’ when they are interacting with other people [2].

Some people would argue that everyone masks to some extent: everyone feels the need to change or hide things about themselves in different situations. Although it’s true that everyone changes the way they act around different people (known as impression management), we generally consider autistic masking to be different.

Autistic masking seems to take a lot more effort than impression management used by neurotypical people, and it also occurs in a much broader range of situations [3].

Impression management is also something that people often choose to do, and can choose when to stop, whereas many autistic people say that they aren’t able to choose when they mask, as it can be an automatic response to being treated differently because of their autism.

Another limitation of the research currently is that it only really looks at masking of autistic characteristic, rather than considering how autistic people who may have additional marginalised identities (e.g. being LGBTQIA+, physically disabled, an ethnic minority) might mask both their autism and other parts of their identity at the same time.

Who masks?

Most autistic people who have been asked about masking say that they have masked at some point in their lives. Some people mask every day; some people mask only rarely.

Some people say that they choose when to mask, and some say they’ve chosen to stop masking (for instance, because of wanting to express themselves more authentically). Other people say that they aren’t able to mask, even if they want to – they might not be able to identify what it is about the way they act that makes them different to other people, so they don’t know what to change about themselves or how.

So far all the research into masking in adults has focused on people without intellectual disability (ID), and those who are able to express themselves through spoken or written language. This means we don’t know much about whether and how autistic people with higher support needs mask, although research I’m involved in hopes to address this by developing more accessible ways to talk about masking with people with ID.

We don’t know as much about masking in children or teenagers. There is some evidence of masking in childhood, by observing children and seeing their autistic characteristics change across different situations. Talking to older children and adults tells us that many autistic people can remember masking in childhood (even if they weren’t yet aware that they were autistic).

However research talking directly to younger children suggests that, although children can identify feeling different to neurotypical children, and wanting to change things about themselves, they can’t always tell us exactly what they do to mask. Masking seems to increase as children enter adolescence, which might be partly due to changes in social expectations (such as greater pressure to fit in), as well as changes in children’s awareness of their own behaviours [4].

However we also know that adolescence is a time when many young people (neurodivergent or not) can feel different, and struggle to work out who they are and who they would like to be. It’s not yet clear whether masking by autistic teenagers is similar or different to the changes in identity that many young people experience.

When we first started researching masking, we thought that it might be more common in girls, women, and those assigned female at birth. This is because some of the first academic descriptions of masking came from research talking to autistic women (particularly those diagnosed later in life).

It’s worth noting that neurodivergent people have been talking about the concept of masking for much longer, it’s just that researchers aren’t always very good at listening. We now know that people of all genders can and do mask [5].

There may be some small differences in how much people mask, such as expectations that people who appear female ‘should’ be friendlier, more social, or more accommodating than people who appear male. We don’t yet know enough about exactly how people of different genders mask, or whether there are differences in the impact that it has on them.

The vast majority of research into masking so far has taken place in Western nations such as the UK, the US, and Australia. As such, most of our understanding of masking is based on the experiences of relatively privileged, often white, people.

Emerging research from other areas suggests that there might be cultural differences in how (and how much) people mask, as well as the impact it can have. For instance, research from Japan suggests that cultural attitudes to autism and ‘fitting in’ might encourage masking amongst both autistic and non-autistic people, with benefits for small amounts of masking [6].

However we still need more research into the experiences of masking from people in the Global South, where attitudes to neurodiversity can sometimes be different to those in Europe and North America.

If you are interested in learning more about masking, Laura has co-authored a book on the topic: Autism and Masking (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2021) is available online and through major book retailers.

[1] Hull, L., Petrides, K. V., Allison, C., Smith, P., Baron-Cohen, S., Lai, M.-C., & Mandy, W. (2017). “Putting on My Best Normal”: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(8), 2519–2534. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5

[2] Hull, L., Mandy, W., Lai, M.-C., Baron-Cohen, S., Allison, C., Smith, P., & Petrides, K. V. (2019). Development and Validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(3), 819–833. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3792-6

[3] Ai, W., Cunningham, W. A., & Lai, M.-C. (2022). Reconsidering autistic ‘camouflaging’ as transactional impression management. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, S1364661322001061. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.05.002 

[4] Chapman, L., Rose, K., Hull, L., & Mandy, W. (2022). “I want to fit in… but I don’t want to change myself fundamentally”: A qualitative exploration of the relationship between masking and mental health for autistic teenagers. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 99, 102069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2022.102069

[5] Cook, J., Hull, L., Crane, L., & Mandy, W. (2021). Camouflaging in autism: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 89, 102080. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102080

[6] Oshima, F., Takahashi, T., Tamura, M., Guan, S., Seto, M., Hull, L., Mandy, W., Tsuchiya, K., & Shimizu, E. (2024). The association between social camouflage and mental health among autistic people in Japan and the UK: A cross-cultural study. Molecular Autism, 15(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13229-023-00579-w