In this episode I will cover recent academic research on masking, or camouflaging, in autistic people. Masking, or camouflaging, is a characteristic of autism, and is highly prevalent in autistic women and girls. It means to purposefully, or subconsciously, display behaviour that is thought to be neurotypical in order to conceal the autistic person’s authentic behaviour.
Suicide comes up in the research here, so if you don’t want to hear about that right now, please wait until the next episode comes out, and mind yourself in the best way that suits you.
No AI was used in the production of this podcast.
Music: Hatamitsunami, "Imma Tell'em" [Epidemic Sound]
Show Notes:
Suicide awareness:
Samaritans Ireland and UK – 116 123
Papyrus (people under 35) – 0800 068 4141
Autistica suicide help page - https://www.autistica.org.uk/what is-autism/signs-and-symptoms/suicide-and-autism
Alcoff, L. M. (2006) Visible Identities: Race, Gender, and the Self Studies in Feminist Philosophy New York: Oxford University Press.
Autistica (2023) Suicide and Autism. Available at: https://www.autistica.org.uk/what-is-autism/signs-and symptoms/suicide-and-autism.
Belcher, H. L. et al. (2022) 'Camouflaging Intent, First Impressions, and Age of ASC Diagnosis in Autistic Men and Women', J Autism Dev Disord, 52(8), pp. 3413-3426.
Belsky, G. (2023) What is executive function? Available at: https://www.understood.org/articles/what-is-executive-function
Butler, J. (1988). Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal, 40(4), 519–531.
Butler, J. (1990) Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity. London;New York: Routledge.
Garland-Thompson, R. (2011). Misfits: A Feminist Materialist Disability Concept. Hypatia, 26(3), 591–609.
Hull, L. et al. (2019) 'Development and Validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q)', J Autism Dev Disord, 49(3), pp. 819-833.
Karavidas, M. and de Visser, R. O. (2021) '"It's Not Just in My Head, and It's Not Just Irrelevant": Autistic Negotiations of Menopausal Transitions', J Autism Dev Disord, 52(3), pp. 1143-1155.
McQuaid, G. A., Lee, N. R. and Wallace, G. L. (2022) 'Camouflaging in autism spectrum disorder: Examining the roles of sex, gender identity, and diagnostic timing', Autism, 26(2), pp. 552-559.
Moseley, R. L. D., Tanya; Turnery-Cobb, Julie M.; (2020) '‘When my autism broke’: A qualitative study spotlighting autistic voices on menopause', Autism, 24(6), pp. 1423-1437.
Steinbrenner, J. R. et al. (2022) 'Patterns in reporting and participant inclusion related to race and ethnicity in autism intervention literature: Data from a large-scale systematic review of evidence-based practices', Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 26(8), pp. 2026-2040.