Understanding autistic camouflaging: The use of online community discussions and stigmatized identity research

Abstract

To avoid the pervasive stigma surrounding autism, autistic people often strive to appear neurotypical by using camouflaging to conceal their natural behaviors and traits. Camouflaging may enable autistic people to navigate social interactions more smoothly, but we lack clear empirical data on its effectiveness. Furthermore, the stress and exhaustion caused by camouflaging seem to be highly detrimental to mental health. This review discusses the need to elucidate the benefits and harms of camouflaging, understand how autistic people make decisions about camouflaging, and evaluate how it compares to other strategies to avoid stigma. To shed light on these questions, I suggest that researchers consult two underutilized existing sources of information: online community discussions and research into other concealable stigmatized identities (CSIs). Online community discussions provide a valuable window into how autistic people make decisions about camouflaging within their daily lives, including a recent movement of “unmasking” and rejecting camouflaging. Situating autistic camouflaging within the larger framework of CSI research allows us to better understand the effects of camouflaging and provides a basis to theorize about how it compares to other strategies of stigma management.