Unmasking Autism

“Unmasking Autism is at once a most deeply personal and scholarly account of the damage caused by autistic (and all) people leading masked lives, and how unmasking is essential to creating a self-determined, authentic life. It provides a unique and revealing perspective on the sensory and social-cognitive experience of autism. It provides practical guidance and exercises for neurodivergent people to learn to be comfortable in their own skin and dramatically change their own lives, and it details the necessary changes that society needs to make to honor neurodiversity. This is a remarkable work that will stand at the forefront of the neurodiversity movement.”—Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP, Visiting Scholar, Brown University, author of Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism

“Reading this felt like being at home—I didn’t realize how much I masked. What an incredible book that I know will be re-read many times over.”—Dr. Camilla Pang, author of An Outsider’s Guide to Humans

“Price’s accessible and compassionate writing shines, and readers will feel encouraged to embrace a new understanding of themselves. Its potential to help masked autistic adults, especially those from systemically marginalized backgrounds, makes this book essential for most collections.”—Library Journal (starred review)

Auteur

Devon Price, PhD

Texte du rabat

"A deep dive into the spectrum of autistic experience and the phenomenon of masked autism, giving individuals the tools to safely uncover their true selves while broadening society's narrow understanding of neurodiversity"--

Résumé
A deep dive into the spectrum of Autistic experience and the phenomenon of masked Autism, giving individuals the tools to safely uncover their true selves while broadening society’s narrow understanding of neurodiversity

“A remarkable work that will stand at the forefront of the neurodiversity movement.”—Barry M. Prizant, PhD, CCC-SLP, author of Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism

For every visibly Autistic person you meet, there are countless “masked” Autistic people who pass as neurotypical. Masking is a common coping mechanism in which Autistic people hide their identifiably Autistic traits in order to fit in with societal norms, adopting a superficial personality at the expense of their mental health. This can include suppressing harmless stims, papering over communication challenges by presenting as unassuming and mild-mannered, and forcing themselves into situations that cause severe anxiety, all so they aren’t seen as needy or “odd.”
 
In Unmasking Autism, Dr. Devon Price shares his personal experience with masking and blends history, social science research, prescriptions, and personal profiles to tell a story of neurodivergence that has thus far been dominated by those on the outside looking in. For Dr. Price and many others, Autism is a deep source of uniqueness and beauty. Unfortunately, living in a neurotypical world means it can also be a source of incredible alienation and pain. Most masked Autistic individuals struggle for decades before discovering who they truly are. They are also more likely to be marginalized in terms of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, and other factors, which contributes to their suffering and invisibility. Dr. Price lays the groundwork for unmasking and offers exercises that encourage self-expression, including:

• Celebrating special interests
• Cultivating Autistic relationships
• Reframing Autistic stereotypes
• And rediscovering your values

It’s time to honor the needs, diversity, and unique strengths of Autistic people so that they no longer have to mask—and it’s time for greater public acceptance and accommodation of difference. In embracing neurodiversity, we can all reap the rewards of nonconformity and learn to live authentically, Autistic and neurotypical people alike.

Échantillon de lecture
**Chapter 1

What Is Autism, Really?

When Crystal was young, she exhibited many behaviors psychologists today would recognize as traditionally Autistic: she lined up toys in rows instead of playing pretend with them, chewed on her blanket while staring at the wall, and had trouble understanding in-­jokes and teasing. But she didn’t “look Autistic enough” to get easily diagnosed in the 1990s, when she was growing up.

“My mom actually thought I should get assessed,” she says. “But my grandpa shut it down. He was all, no, no way, Crystal’s such a good girl! There’s nothing wrong with her. Don’t even think about stuff like that.”

Crystal’s grandfather probably figured he was protecting her from getting stuck with a label that would bring a lifetime of abuse. He certainly isn’t alone in that. Label avoidance (taking steps to evade diagnosis) is a very common consequence of disability and mental health stigma. Publicly identifying as disabled does mean being viewed as less competent—­and less human—­by many people. As damaging and self-­defeating as it can be to camouflage one’s disability status, it is by no means a paranoid act. It’s a rational reflection of the prejudices disabled people face. It’s not unique to Autism, either; many people with mental illnesses and hidden physical disabilities elect to avoid the mark of shame a diagnosis might bring.

My dad hid his cerebral palsy and seizure disorder for his entire life. No one knew about his condition other than my grandmother, my mom, and eventually me. He never went to college because he would have needed to reveal his access needs to campus disability services. He only ever applied to jobs that didn’t require him to write or type, lest his poor fine motor control be revealed. As a child, I typed up the flyers for his lawn mowing business, because he couldn’t work the computer himself. I only found out about his condition as a teenager; he sobbingly confessed it to me, as if it were a terrible secret, after his marriage to my mother had already fallen apart. He told me that his mother had made him hide his condition because it wouldn’t have been acceptable to be openly disabled in the tiny Appalachian town where he grew up. Shame and self-­loathing followed him until the day that he died of diabetes (a condition he developed as an adult and also refused to treat).

I didn’t find out I was Autistic until many years after his death, but he was the first person who demonstrated to me just how painful and self-­destructive hiding your disability can be. He had erected an entire life around hiding who he was, and his defensive mechanisms had slowly killed him.

Label avoidance was common among the parents of potentially Autistic children during the 1990s, because the condition was so poorly understood and demonized. Autistic people were assumed to be intellectually disabled, and intellectual disabled people were not valued or respected, so many families did their damnedest to keep the label off their kids’ backs. Though Crystal’s grandfather intended to protect her from bigotry, and from being infantilized, he also denied her important self-­knowledge, educational resources, and a place in the Autistic community. Without consulting Crystal, her family determined it would be better for her to suffer and hide her neurodiversity than to have a name for her marginalized position in the world. The weight of this decision is one Crystal continues to deal with now, as an adult who was diagnosed in her late twenties.

“Now I know I’m Autistic, but …