Autistic people have talked about camouflaging for a while, but doctors and researchers still do not know very much about it. No one knows whether camouflaging can help people or if it actually causes autistic people more problems. Researchers started to learn more about camouflaging by asking autistic people about their experiences of camouflaging or masking, or hiding aspects of yourself or pretending to be like someone else. For example, a person might mask their autism by pretending to join in a game even if they do not understand the rules.
Autistic people reported that they camouflage their autism because they want to make friends and form connections with people, and because camouflaging can be helpful to them. Some people might camouflage their autism when they are at school or work, so that people do not treat them differently and they can concentrate on what they have to do. Some people camouflage their autism when they meet new people, so that they can make a good impression and maybe become friends. Some people will stop camouflaging when they get to know someone very well, if they think the person will accept them even when they act more autistic.

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Go to source: https://kids.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frym.2019.00129