Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.
Today's article is on camouflaging, otherwise known as "why you might not know I'm autistic if you ever meet me" and also "why it took 20 years to get my autism diagnosis."
Autistic people do not fit into a group of neurotypical people, generally speaking. In fact, our differences often make it hard for us to be understood, and to understand others. As such, we're often taught or outright told to change ourselves to be more like neurotypicals, so we can be better understood. This includes things like controlling our eye contact, toning down our creative word usages, and refraining from calming activities like rocking, flapping our hands, or other adaptive behavior.
This message of "don't be yourself, be what others expect you to be" is relentless. It's formalized in most types of Applied Behavioral Analysis, which is the "standard" autism therapy, where they modify a child's behavior in order to make them more "normal." Not all forms of ABA do this, but most do. Even without that, there's plenty of "don't be you" to go around.
Now, the article specifically talks about taking on neurotypical traits, not suppressing autistic ones... but from my perspective, those are merely two sides of the same coin. The researchers may disagree, but I cordially invite them to ask the autistic community at large, and also to look carefully at their results. The effect of both behaviors is now documented: correlations were found with poorer mental health and delayed diagnoses, which generally means a smaller, less supportive support network of friends and family.
Essentially: trying to be what you're not is bad for your health. Mental health, emotional health, and physical health, it's all interconnected and covered here.
I make a point of highlighting this not because I think autistic people should never have to change or adapt... but because society relentlessly chants "we're just fine, YOU'RE the problem" at us. That isn't how you make a better world for everyone, it's how you drive a group of people to despair and high suicide rates. Which, oh look, the autistic population has.
Ideally, neurotypical people and neurodiverse people of all kinds learn about each other and adapt to better support each other. In practicality, there's people on both sides that refuse to do so... the difference is that in general, neurotypical people have the power to change things, and autistic people do not.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
Today's article is on camouflaging, otherwise known as "why you might not know I'm autistic if you ever meet me" and also "why it took 20 years to get my autism diagnosis."
Autistic people do not fit into a group of neurotypical people, generally speaking. In fact, our differences often make it hard for us to be understood, and to understand others. As such, we're often taught or outright told to change ourselves to be more like neurotypicals, so we can be better understood. This includes things like controlling our eye contact, toning down our creative word usages, and refraining from calming activities like rocking, flapping our hands, or other adaptive behavior.
This message of "don't be yourself, be what others expect you to be" is relentless. It's formalized in most types of Applied Behavioral Analysis, which is the "standard" autism therapy, where they modify a child's behavior in order to make them more "normal." Not all forms of ABA do this, but most do. Even without that, there's plenty of "don't be you" to go around.
Now, the article specifically talks about taking on neurotypical traits, not suppressing autistic ones... but from my perspective, those are merely two sides of the same coin. The researchers may disagree, but I cordially invite them to ask the autistic community at large, and also to look carefully at their results. The effect of both behaviors is now documented: correlations were found with poorer mental health and delayed diagnoses, which generally means a smaller, less supportive support network of friends and family.
Essentially: trying to be what you're not is bad for your health. Mental health, emotional health, and physical health, it's all interconnected and covered here.
I make a point of highlighting this not because I think autistic people should never have to change or adapt... but because society relentlessly chants "we're just fine, YOU'RE the problem" at us. That isn't how you make a better world for everyone, it's how you drive a group of people to despair and high suicide rates. Which, oh look, the autistic population has.
Ideally, neurotypical people and neurodiverse people of all kinds learn about each other and adapt to better support each other. In practicality, there's people on both sides that refuse to do so... the difference is that in general, neurotypical people have the power to change things, and autistic people do not.
(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)
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