What is masking in autism?
Masking and camouflaging are terms used to describe neurodiverse individuals who seek to hide or minimize their autism traits to fit in with the neurotypical world. Individuals with autism, especially ones who have a history of trauma, frequently feel they need to mask their ASD traits in order to fit in.
What does high functioning autism feel like?
Symptoms. Like all people on the autism spectrum, people who are high functioning have a hard time with social interaction and communication. They don’t naturally read social cues and might find it difficult to make friends. They can get so stressed by a social situation that they shut down.
What goes on in the mind of an autistic person?
There is a wide range of symptoms in autistic people. Some of the main symptoms include communication problems like delayed speech development, and difficulty in social interactions, such as making friends, maintaining eye contact, reading people’s body language or facial expressions, and expressing how they feel.
Can Trauma be mistaken for autism?
Awareness of PTSD in children has been fairly limited until recently, which means symptoms can sometimes be mistaken for more familiar childhood diagnoses. For example, a child’s response to trauma can sometimes mirror the signs of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
How do you make an autistic person happy?
Tips for Talking to Adults on the Autism Spectrum
- Address him or her as you would any other adult, not a child.
- Avoid using words or phrases that are too familiar or personal.
- Say what you mean.
- Take time to listen.
- If you ask a question, wait for a response.
- Provide meaningful feedback.
Does autism get worse with stress?
However, a person with autism may start their day with a much higher level of stress and anxiety. This means that they may reach crisis point more quickly than others.
Should autism be seen as something which must be hated?
Because if autism becomes seen as something which must be hated…. Autistic young people will obediently grow up hating themselves. The general public will fear us for no justifiable reason. Nobody will employ autistic people. The general public will not even attempt to understand your autistic child.
Why can’t you talk about autism with non-autistic people?
Partly because it would be disrespectful to talk about any non -autistic person as if they weren’t in the room (and therefore, why on Earth would it be different for autistic people?), and partly because of the things that can end up being said if you think they’re not listening. I’ll let this badly-drawn picture do the talking.
Why do I feel like autism is a bad thing?
Because the world had taught me that autism was supposed to be a bad thing. Not just a way of thinking that leads to certain specific strengths and certain specific difficulties, but inherently a bad disorder that removed your quality as a person.
What do you do when someone with autism says Never Mind?
If this is the case, don’t just say ‘Never mind’ and walk away (this happens all the time and it sucks). Instead, try asking the autistic person if they would like to move somewhere with fewer distractions or maybe come back to the topic when things are a bit less busy.