Many autistic adults learn ways of adapting their behaviour to fit social expectations. This is often described as masking or camouflaging.
Masking can involve hiding behaviours that might be noticed by other people, consciously learning social rules, imitating the communication styles of others, or developing strategies to compensate for areas that do not come naturally.
For some adults, these strategies become so familiar that they may not initially recognize how much effort they are putting into social situations.
What Does Autistic Masking Look Like?
Masking can look very different from one person to another.
Someone might:
- consciously maintain eye contact even when it feels uncomfortable;
- rehearse conversations before they happen;
- prepare possible responses to common social situations;
- copy the expressions, gestures, humour, or communication styles of other people;
- monitor their facial expression or tone of voice;
- suppress repetitive movements or other forms of self-regulation;
- avoid talking about interests because they worry about appearing overly enthusiastic;
- study social behaviour and consciously apply what they have learned; or
- appear socially comfortable while internally working very hard to follow the interaction.
Some people describe social interaction as something they have effectively learned to perform rather than something that happens automatically.
Research usually uses the broader term social camouflaging, which can include both hiding autistic characteristics and compensating for social difficulties. Research has also found that camouflaging is not one simple behaviour and that people’s reasons for doing it vary considerably.
Why Do Autistic Adults Mask?
Masking often develops for understandable reasons.
A person may have learned through experience that certain behaviours attract criticism, confusion, bullying, or unwanted attention. They may discover that behaving differently makes friendships, school, employment, or relationships easier to navigate.
For some people, masking is highly conscious. For others, it develops gradually and becomes almost automatic.
It can also vary considerably by setting. Someone might mask extensively at work but much less at home, or appear very socially capable during brief interactions while finding sustained social demands exhausting.
Masking Does Not Always Look Like Shyness
An important misconception is that an autistic person who masks successfully will necessarily appear shy, withdrawn, or socially awkward.
Some autistic adults are outgoing, talkative, humorous, professionally successful, or socially confident.
The important question is not simply what the behaviour looks like from the outside.
It can also be useful to understand how the person achieves it, how intuitive the interaction feels, how much monitoring is involved, and how much energy it requires.
Masking and Exhaustion
Constantly monitoring behaviour can require considerable effort.
Some autistic adults describe needing significant recovery time after work, social events, meetings, school, or other situations in which they have been closely managing how they present themselves.
Research has found associations between greater camouflaging and poorer mental health outcomes, although the relationship is complex and the research continues to develop. Masking should therefore not automatically be assumed to cause anxiety, depression, or burnout in any particular individual.
For some people, however, understanding the amount of effort involved in appearing socially comfortable helps explain why apparently ordinary situations can be unexpectedly exhausting.
Masking and Autism in Women
Masking has received particular attention when researchers have tried to understand why some autistic women are not identified until adulthood.
Girls and women may sometimes develop sophisticated strategies for navigating social situations, particularly when they have strong verbal abilities or are highly motivated to fit in.
However, masking is not unique to women. Autistic people of any gender may camouflage their differences.
Gender is only one part of understanding why autism may be overlooked.
Can Someone Mask During an Autism Assessment?
Yes.
An autism assessment should not depend simply on whether someone appears obviously autistic during an appointment.
Current clinical guidance recommends that comprehensive adult assessment consider childhood development, social communication and interaction, restricted or repetitive patterns, sensory experiences, functioning in everyday life, mental health, other neurodevelopmental conditions, and information from earlier life where available.
This is one reason comprehensive assessment involves much more than observing someone for a short period or looking at the score from a single questionnaire.
A psychologist may explore both what a person does socially and how they learned to do it.
Masking Is Not Proof of Autism
Many people modify their behaviour depending on the situation.
Someone might behave differently during a job interview than they do with close friends. People without autism also rehearse conversations, worry about how they appear, imitate others, or deliberately improve their social skills.
Masking therefore needs to be understood within the person’s broader developmental and psychological history.
It is one piece of information rather than a diagnosis.
Could Masking Be One Reason Autism Was Missed?
For some adults, yes.
Someone may have spent years appearing to manage relatively well while privately experiencing social confusion, sensory difficulties, exhaustion, rigid routines, or considerable anxiety about navigating everyday situations.
This can become particularly important when considering late autism diagnosis.
A comprehensive assessment can help determine whether these experiences form part of a broader lifelong pattern consistent with autism or whether another explanation better accounts for them.
Adult autism assessments are available in Calgary through Solasta Counselling. Our assessments consider developmental history, current functioning, social communication, sensory experiences, masking, mental health, and other possible explanations for a person’s experiences.