Masking yourself as an autistic individual is the act of covering or hiding your autistic ‘characteristics’ to be seen as neurotypical so you ‘fit in’ with everybody else. Not only can this be damaging to yourself and your mental health, but you shouldn’t feel like you have to cover up your autistic traits to feel like you belong. Understandably, unmasking yourself can be a long process, especially if you have been masking for a long time, but the process is worth it to feel completely yourself again.
Self-research
The first step to help yourself unmask is by taking a step back and doing some self-research. By recognising the behaviours that you do for other people, you can then start to slowly unmask yourself, one step at a time. Start to think about what you are like when you are alone, do you narrate what you are doing step by step? Do you prefer being on your own than around people and why? Do you use your hands to express what you are speaking about? This is in an environment when you don’t have to mask, if you think about how you feel when you’re alone and relaxed, it will help you figure out what your unmasked self might look like, and help you set goals for your unmasking process.
Find a neurodivergent group/community
As a neurodivergent person, it is important to find a community or friend group who are similar to you as they can understand your characteristics and help you heal. This also helps in the unmasking process as you will most likely feel a lot more comfortable around them and wouldn’t feel the need to mask as much. By being friends with other neurodivergent people, it gives you a safe space to feel confident and express yourself without having to cover any part of yourself up.
Unmasking can be a very difficult process, partially because the people around you may find it difficult as they only know the “masked you”, so by joining groups of other neurodivergent individuals, it can help make this process a lot easier, whether this is an online community or a physical group of people, this small step can make a big difference.
Getting external support
Unmasking is a challenging and slow process, especially if you are struggling with it due to stress and anxiety about how friends and family will react. If you feel as though you are struggling with it, do not be ashamed, this is completely normal for such a big step, especially for an autistic or neurodivergent person. Please feel free to browse our services on our website as we can to help you through this process.
