Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

always sat with my knees pressed to my chest. My body craved the pressure of sitting in a curled up, “gargoyle” posture (many Autistic people enjoy sitting this way),

our neurons activate easily, and don’t discriminate as readily between a “nuisance variable” that our brains might wish to ignore

We are hyperreactive to even small stimuli in our environment We have trouble distinguishing between information or sensory data that should be ignored versus data that should be carefully considered We are highly focused on details rather than “big picture” concepts We’re deeply and deliberatively analytical Our decision-making process is methodic

In the average person’s mind, there is a singular image of how Autism presents in adults: a genius, almost always a man, who is blunt and direct to the point of cruelty. To avoid embodying this trope, Autistic people fold ourselves into all kinds of accommodating shapes. We do what we can to not seem difficult, cruel, or self-absorbed. We internali

and a crucial piece of data that deserves a ton of our attention

Autistic people also exhibit less of what neuroscientists call global-to-local interference:[19]

Psychiatrists and psychologists have always defined Autism by how the disability impacts neurotypical people. A more “severely” Autistic person is not necessarily a person who experiences more interior suffering, but rather someone who suffers in a more disruptive, annoying, or disturbing way.

Masked Autistics sometimes find structure and belonging in “high control” groups,

For Crystal, and for a lot of masked Autistic people, middle school is when a lot of struggles really come to the fore.

“Once you have finished telling each of your five stories,” Heather Morgan writes,[19] “go back and look for the key words that describe each story.