Autistic people’s perception of social camouflaging

What is it about?

Camouflaging the characteristics of autism is a common coping strategy among autistic people, often leading to diagnostic delays and impacting mental health and quality of life. While literature has explored autistic people’s views on camouflaging, it rarely analyzes natural conversations outside research settings. To address this, we focused on online discussions between autistic individuals. This study examined 194 posts by 68 users on a UK-based autism forum, using inductive thematic analysis to identify key elements of camouflaging. The analysis revealed a predominantly negative tone towards camouflaging, with most users practicing it for social integration, particularly in work settings. The main consequence reported was intense fatigue. Our findings align with existing literature, showing a negative perception of camouflaging among autistic people. Future research should gather more data from natural conversations to validate these results and consider diverse sources of autistic individuals' perspectives.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The findings of this study strengthen existing knowledge about camouflaging by adding new analysis conducted directly on conversations happening organically. Future research should collect more data from natural conversations to validate these results and consider diverse sources of autistic individuals’ perspectives.