Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Masking What Is It? - (What YOU NEED To Know)

Transcript

Autism Masking What Is It? - (What YOU NEED To Know) · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  Hey, in this video I'm gonna be talking about water, them and
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  masking and what exactly it is, all that plus more is coming
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  right up. Hey guys, welcome back to the
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  ask me world. My name is Dan.
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  I have autism ADHD OCD and dyslexia and I make weekly
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  videos on this type of content. So if you're new around here and
• 0:24
  you'd love to learn more, please hit that subscribe button by
• 0:27
  clicking the notification Bell and if you're watching this on
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  Facebook which is get this page a like and follow so you don't
• 0:32
  miss any videos. All right, let's get on with it.
• 0:36
  Hey guys, welcome back. Its the ass for gold or year.
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  Yeah, I don't know. I'm dancing.
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  I feel kind of like feel like in a pretty good mood.
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  They just being out for a walk feeling pumped, but I wanted to
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  do a video about autism and masking because I feel like it's
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  a big topic that we don't really cover.
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  So if you want to go ahead and follow me on Instagram and
• 0:52
  Twitter and Tick-Tock the calls to action, my name's will be
• 0:55
  here. So you can follow me.
• 0:57
  Links are in the description below if you wanna check me out
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  on there, but I also do content on those platform, so it's way
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  worth checking it out. Okay.
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  So, autism and masking. I wanted to try and cover in
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  this video, some stuff about what has been masking and and
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  how it kind of feels from that person's point of view and how
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  you can potentially spot it. So if somebody is on the
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  awesome, Spectrum. Then you can look at what
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  they're doing and then kind of think, okay, well, maybe it's
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  masking or maybe it's this, maybe it's that, and but it's a
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  huge thing, like masking, an Autism is a big deal and I'll
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  get into white a big deal right now.
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  So I really want to start with some facts and figures.
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  And why this is important to masking.
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  Now, people diagnosed with autism, there are three times as
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  many boys, diagnosis of autism. That alright girls, which is
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  basically like, you know, you have one girl, diagnose.
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  Autism for every three boys, diagnosed with autism, which is
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  a really interesting figure, which means that, like, A third
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  of only a third of the population of girls compared to
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  boys, actually have autism diagnosis, but that isn't really
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  the case of fact that they have, they don't have it like, you
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  know, it's not like only like a lesser amount, have it?
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  It's just that people on the autism spectrum.
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  Specifically, females have a great deal of masking going on,
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  which makes it harder to diagnose, which is one of the
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  biggest reasons why girls are left out with the diagnostic
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  criteria. A lot of the time and kind of
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  slip through that net. The first time I want, it
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  doesn't mean that they don't eventually do get the Moses and
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  some cases that may be so, but it is something that is
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  apparent. When first time they try to get
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  diagnosed or seek medical professional help and assistance
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  with that condition. So masking, it kind of sounds
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  like exactly what it is. Now I'm asking, is when you are
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  pretending to be somebody else or putting on an act or a
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  performance or a Persona of putting on a front to cover the,
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  the convey, your own kind of like personal traits of autism,
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  your own kind of like insecurities and stuff.
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  And it happens. It's not just females who
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  actually masked males mask as well.
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  I've done a great deal of masking in my time as well, but
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  I'm looking to learning to just be myself because I feel like
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  I'm asking isn't a good thing. I feel like my skin is something
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  that is detrimental to to me. I mean, some people might really
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  enjoy masking like, you know, like get some benefit out of it
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  because I have some operate themselves in a certain
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  environment. But for me it's a very difficult
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  one to do because it makes me not me and I put it this way
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  when I am quite An introverted person, I like to study stuff
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  and read stuff and learn stuff in my office in my house, you
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  know, snuggle down on the couch in my bed, whatever.
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  Learn watch videos, make videos, right?
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  Music, you know, all kind of stuff, but I liked it on my own.
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  I like to be on my own a lot of the time.
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  I like libraries, I don't like going out to clubs.
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  I don't like drinking alcohol and going, I don't drink
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  alcohol. But I mean I don't like going to
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  clubs with people drink alcohol and like have a big time.
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  There's loads of people in there like you shoot, but I do play
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  music and I play in a band and my band assigned to Record
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  labels, which means that we have done a fair amount of touring
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  and playing music around the world.
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  And so when I play music like I don't want to be in the club
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  environment. So I'm usually backstage, you
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  know, in the green room until we come on and play.
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  And then we've got, we pack the van and we go.
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  But in terms of actually being in that environment and going on
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  stage, I'm quite a shy person, but I put on a Persona a
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  performance because I'm performing as a musician at that
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  time. And I put on a performance, I
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  was a musician and I go out there and do it and I come off.
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  Stage and then I do my other thing and that's why I get
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  exhausted after gigs. Now, that is typically how
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  someone who is masking. The autism spectrum symptoms
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  does life with masking, because let's put it this way, put it
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  into a perspective of a young girl, so young girl, who is very
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  shy. She's quite introverted and she
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  likes collecting stuff and she just likes to read books on say
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  Harry Potter, right? And she's in high school and she
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  is quite shy person and we talk to anybody, you know, quiet, you
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  know. Girl, if you know a few words,
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  but she goes to school and she sees all this hustle and bustle,
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  as I'm the load of people are talking about different things,
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  not just Harry Potter, all this kind of stuff going on and girls
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  are quite social, you know. And they've got big Social
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  Circles, and social friends, and want to do this, that, and the
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  other and talk about all things. And the girl is on the Spectrum,
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  joined this school and decides that, oh my goodness, you know,
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  just quite overwhelming. How do I fit into this category?
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  How do I, how do I exist in this environment?
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  And the only way they see fit is to, you know, front it be like
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  yeah, course I Totally get what you're talking about.
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  I get, you know, I told him to like you know, all the magazines
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  you guys watch all the apps or websites or the YouTube that you
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  talking about, but then also doesn't mention the Harry Potter
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  thing and just makes out is if she is outgoing as the other
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  girls because you just want to kind of like be outside of that
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  friends group and this is typically how marketing works
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  but it's not a it's not a good thing for a simple reason and
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  this is what happens. So the masking masking masking
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  that then sales they have them as a person but they're masking
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  their autism side, you know that the things that My friend
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  unusual and then they mask all day and then they come home and
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  it's like a complete, like explosion.
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  Like they, they have like a lava got complete meltdown shut down.
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  But, you know, break down because they've still exhausted.
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  Their resources are being human. You know, how exhausting is that
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  putting on an act all day and then they come home, and they
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  have a huge amount down. I mean, imagine that happening
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  every day, like, five days out of the week and on the weekend,
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  then you just too exhausted to do anything.
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  If you're a parent watching this video right now and you know
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  exactly what I'm talking about, please give this video a thumbs
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  up because I'd love Of to see how relatable this is to other
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  people, because I feel like it is relatable and people can
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  relate to it. And I just want to make sure
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  that yeah, well, we're exchanging awesome things.
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  So please give it a thumbs up. If you relate all, leave me a
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  comment if it sounds like somebody, you know, but that is
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  typically how I'm asking works. Now it comes from the fact that
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  people on the autism spectrum who are of lower support needs
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  which used to be called like high-functioning, but people
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  don't really use functioning labels anymore but people with
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  like lower support needs who are on the autism spectrum.
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  They actually like, Think about those things like Social Circles
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  and wanting to make friends. I'd being part of groups and
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  stuff and it actively thinking in those weights.
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  And so they're trying to make workarounds and these are called
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  like you know, of work around topics.
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  So that for instance, like you know, if you if you thinking
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  like I want to, you know, I I don't know what I'm supposed to
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  do in certain social situations, so then you study so many and
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  social situation and then you watch what they do.
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  And so you just copy them next time.
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  You know this is a work around our hack for figuring out that
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  you could actually be in that situation without actually
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  having to really understand art. Here to the social conventions.
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  Now girls are on the autism spectrum, kind of want to be
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  more in the social thing. It's kind of like a, you know, I
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  don't know, it's instinctual whatever but I want to be in
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  Social Circles, they want to like talk to people on a certain
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  level and have those kind of relationships and have those
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  intimate kind of like, you know, friendships are people where
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  they can talk about things, I don't know.
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  But the entire idea of doing all that thing, it can be
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  overwhelming because if you're on the autism spectrum of those
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  things, kind of Don't Come Easy. So you have to kind of pretend
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  that you already know those things which can really get you
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  into Cash. Sticky situations because then
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  they might think that you are cool or something, but then you
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  may have a meltdown as a, you know, say this it all gone on
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  the camping we can draw going to go camping and do this thing
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  with, like a club with school. But that's something that would
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  terrify me in, might terrify some other girls on the
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  Spectrum. But, you know, if they did that
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  camping trip, they would then maybe have a meltdown in the
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  cost their friends and stuff. I'm like, oh my goodness, who is
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  this? You know what's happening is as
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  person they were absolutely fine.
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  But now that when this huge like meltdown, why it would be kind
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  of like a puzzling for them, it wouldn't be like some Bad.
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  I'm just saying that it's pausing for them.
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  So the reason masking kind of can get you stick situations
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  because not being 100% honest with everything that you're
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  doing or being. But then again, masking isn't
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  something that's voluntarily done.
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  A lot of the time masking is done involuntarily.
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  It's kind of like something that they can't control.
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  It's something that just happens because you're in a situation
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  where you have to try and figure out, it's almost like this.
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  The autism brain wants to solve puzzles constantly.
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  That's it. That's its main priority autism
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  brains one solve puzzles. So how do you solve the issue of
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  social communication? Even when you mimic somebody
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  else in that situation by masking, by putting on a
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  Persona, becoming somebody else, it kind of like, a public
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  performance and and relay their performance to those people to
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  overcome the problem of that thing.
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  And so that becomes that problem solution is already done.
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  So, this is what I mean by, you know, masking is kind of, it's a
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  difficult thing to deal with, but that respect, if you are
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  seeing masking in people, my advice would be to tell him that
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  like they don't have to mask it. If they can control it, they
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  should be themselves. They Should be 100% themselves
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  and they should try to be as much themselves as possible.
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  Because being themselves, it's always going to be better.
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  The only thing you can't improve upon is the truth as my father
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  would say. So I would highly recommend
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  doing that but parents listening to this right now, if you're
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  interested in joining a webinar that I made specifically for
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  parents and caregivers of people on the Spectrum, you can click
• 9:32
  the link in the caterpillar. It's a live webinar.
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  You watch completely for free and it has some training there
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  for people who I wanted to, you know, do a little bit more with,
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  you know, learning about autism for their children's sake, Etc.
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  So we've in the car both here and in description down below.
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  But for now guys, that is all. I'll see you in the next video.
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  Peace. Hey guys, thank you so much for
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  listening to this podcast. If you haven't already, please
• 10:03
  share this with anybody and everyone who you think can get
• 10:05
  some benefit from it. And also I know a bunch of you
• 10:06
  guys who haven't already, subscribe to this podcast but
• 10:08
  listen so please go over and subscribe to it now so you don't
• 10:11
  miss an episode. Also from hit me up on Twitter
• 10:13
  it's at the aspie world the th e ask me spie and then World wo
• 10:20
  rld so that as be World. Alright guys thanks