Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Masking 5 Facts [You NEED To Know!]

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Autism Masking 5 Facts [You NEED To Know!] · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  You have arrived. Welcome to the Aspy world.
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  Here's where we talk about anything and everything ASD in
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  an upbeat and informative way. And now here's your man on the
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  spectrum, your autism ambassador, Daniel Morgan Jones.
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  So autism and masking. Here are 5 facts that you
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  probably didn't know. All that plus more is coming
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  right up. Hey guys, welcome back to the
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  Aspy world. My name is Dan, I've autism,
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  ADHD, OCD and dyslexia and I make weekly videos all about
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  this stuff. So if you're interested in
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  learning more about this topic then make sure you hit the
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  subscribe button by clicking the notification bell down below.
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  This video says subscribe guys, what is going on?
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  It's it's so good to be making videos on stuff like masking
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  because masking is something that I feel a lot of people
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  always can't tend to forget happens and it doesn't always
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  come to the forefront of people's minds.
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  So this video is all about that. I'm going to specifically talk
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  about 5 interesting facts about masking that you probably didn't
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  really know about. And, and all of those facts are
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  something that you should know about to help kind of understand
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  the full notion of masking. So let's talk a little bit about
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  what masking is. So masking, if you don't already
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  know, is where an autistic person would almost like put on
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  a character or pretend to be somebody else to navigate
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  through a situation they may find difficult socially or
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  interactively and communicatively.
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  And they do this type of masking thing or we do this type of
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  masking thing so that we can overcome our situation in the
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  best way possible. And what I mean by that is, say
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  you're an autistic person and the favorite thing that you like
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  to do is sit at home and research your special interest
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  topic like Star Trek or Doctor Who or whatever.
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  I know I'm talking to you. Thumbs up if you like Star Trek.
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  So that being said, if there is a Christmas party on and your
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  family are like, we have to go to the Christmas party, it's the
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  holidays, everyone's going. It's your auntie's, you know,
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  90th Christmas party. We have to go.
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  And you're like, oh, man, OK. And so then you pretend.
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  You put on a friend, you put on a character to be like this
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  person that goes to the Christmas party and enjoys
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  themselves. And that's fun and does all
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  these things, but it comes at a cost.
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  You then get home and you are more stressed than ever because
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  you've masked the whole time. And now you're like, oh, I just
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  want to go to sleep and I'm exhausted for masking.
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  So that's masking kind of in a nutshell.
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  Guys, before we get into the next part of the video, I just
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  OK, so here are the five fact about masking.
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  N first of all is that autistic people may mimic certain facial
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  expressions or sounds that they hear in real life.
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  So if an autistic person sees a neurotypical person doing a
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  facial expression, they may think, hey, that's the facial
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  expression that I need to do to be normal in this situation.
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  So you'll see them mimicking expressions and kind of
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  mannerisms of other people. So #2 is rehearsing sounds and
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  audio kind of questions or something repeatedly like if you
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  hear somebody saying hey, how was the drive here?
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  Then the autistic person may be like, hey, how was the drive
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  here? Hey, hey, hey, hey, how was the
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  drive here? You may mimic those sounds those
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  those those repetitive questions that you hear in the outside
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  world that you may want to kind of try to repetitively
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  repeatedly practice so that you can learn those sounds.
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  So #3 is secretly stimming. So stimming is self a
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  stimulatory behaviour, which is kind of like flapping your hands
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  or playing with a fidget gadget or doing something that is kind
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  of repetitive to be flicking with fingers or kind of like
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  doing this, right? But if you have that fidget
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  spitter in your pocket or you want to just do this with your
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  fingers in your pocket, those would be kind of secret stems.
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  So it'd be stemming in a public space because you're nervous or
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  anxious and you want to get that energy out and have something
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  soothing. But it's without actually
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  showing anybody you're doing it, which is kind of masking your
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  stem, which is interesting #4 is really interesting.
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  And this is forcing it to make eye contact or pretending to
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  make eye contact. So an autistic person may be
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  forced to make eye contact, which is really difficult for
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  them, or they'll pretend and they'll look past the person's
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  head while they're talking to them.
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  So it kind of gives the impression that they're maybe
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  making eye contact, but you're not sure, but they're actually
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  looking past you. This is very typical of masking,
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  and it's a way to cope with the situation that is completely
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  awkward to you as a person and #5 is hiding away or limiting
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  the amount of contact that you have.
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  So you show up to the event, but you're not present in the event.
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  You you're hiding behind a pillar or I'm in the bathroom,
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  or I'm just going to go to the buffet, or hey, I'm growing a
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  drink or, oh, I really need to just sit down and look at my
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  phone. These things are ways where you
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  feel like you're participating or you're present, but you're
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  actually taking yourself away from the situation directly so
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  that the communication, the social interaction and all the
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  difficult parts that have been taken away.
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  Now let me know in the comments. Are you a person who masks or
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  are you a parent or caregiver or part of somebody who's autistic
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  and you want to learn more? I want to know who's watching
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  these videos. I'll find a comment down below.
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  I want to say hi because I read every single comment and I
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  respond to every single one. Now, guys, if you found this
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  video very helpful and please share it on social media and
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  check out this other video right here because I think you're
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  going to really enjoy it. All right, guys.
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  See you next one piece. Hey guys, thank you so much for
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  checking out this podcast. Make sure you are subscribed
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  because there are people listening right now who are not
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  subscribed to this podcast. I can see you.
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  Make sure you subscribe. Okay guys, see you in the next
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  one. Piece.