Chapter 29 Autistic Masking - why so many of us were missed

Chapter 29 recapping my unexpected Autism and ADHD year: this week I'm looking at one of the most fundamental aspects that late-diagnosed autistic people have to grapple with: masking, also known as camouflaging or adaptive morphing. Masking is trying to pass as neuro-typical, either consciously or unconsciously suppressing or hiding or autistic traits in order to go unnoticed as different.

I use Dr Hannah Louise Belcher's fantastic book 'Taking Off The Mask' as the lynchpin of exploring what masking is, what it can look like, and how - or even if - we should unmask.

Please do like and share this video and subscribe to my channel if you find any of it useful, or message me to get in touch and connect.
Contact email: [email protected]

Some useful links:

Cat-Q Test (Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire):
https://embrace-autism.com/cat-q

Feelings Wheel:
https://caass.online/fw

Hannah Belcher website:
https://hannahbelcher.com

Taking Off The Mask by Hannah Belcher on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Off-M...

AQ Autism Self-Test:
I'm going to keep posting the link to the AQ Self Test for autism every Sunday in case this is the first video in the series people come across. Take the self test (remember it's JUST a self-test) and see how you score. You may have been on the autism spectrum all along and just had no idea, like I was:
https://psychology-tools.com/test/aut...

ADHD Self-Test:
(with all the same caveats as above) an ADHD self-test. ADHD is even MORE common than autism (and many of us will have both); the vast majority of ADHDers just struggle through from childhood through adulthood having no idea that they even HAVE ADHD, let alone working out strategies to cope and deal with it all better to be happier and less frustrated with ourselves and others.
https://psychology-tools.com/test/adu...