"Putting on My Best Normal": Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions.
Laura Hull, K V Petrides, Carrie Allison and 4 others
PMID 28527095WHAT IT FOUND
Most participants described camouflaging their autism as effortful and exhausting.
They masked stimming, copied others, and rehearsed conversations to fit in or connect, often delaying diagnosis and hiding support needs.
Key findings
01Participants camouflaged to blend in and to form connections.
02Camouflaging included masking, where respondents hid autism-related behaviours, and compensation, where they used explicit strategies for social and communication gaps.
03Exhaustion was the most consistent consequence, and camouflaging could hide support needs from others.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was self-selecting, recruited from a database and social media, and may over-represent people who had experienced camouflaging. The study did not independently verify diagnoses, and three participants were excluded from current analysis because of self-diagnosis or a non-clinical diagnosis. Participants needed to complete an online text-based survey, so the findings may not represent people with intellectual disability or limited written English. The sample was not fully representative of the autism community because it included a high proportion of women and people of other genders. The study was qualitative and not designed to measure how common camouflaging is, compare genders statistically, or test outcomes. No typically developing comparison group was included.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as a treatment guide or as proof that camouflaging is common. The study asked adults with autism to describe their experiences; it did not test whether camouflaging improves social outcomes, and many participants reported exhaustion, anxiety, delayed diagnosis, and unmet support needs.