What Masking Autism Feels Like #masking #autism #shorts

[DembaiVT]

One of the kindest things that have ever happened to me was being at a family function at my brother's house and him noticing that I was about to have a complete meltdown. and instead of doing what my mother would have done which was to shame me for looking distressed at all, he said "would you like to go sit in the bedroom for a bit?" And that kindness made me cry. I miss him.

[MorganJ]

It's basically just acting, except you're onstage 24/7 and are pressured to never ever break character.

[mashaparfenenko]

I’ve recently been diagnosed with autism. When I told a friend of mine, she said “you must have very good willpower to hide it and function so well”. It took a while to explain that masking was never an active choice/something positive, but an attempt to change my behavior, so that I seem “normal enough” and “good enough” to be accepted. Masking isn’t “improvement”, it’s a survival mechanism.

[nerdess]

Did she just say... "Your TISM is showing"?! Y'all I'd be down to fight. I don't want to be stimming like this in public any more than you do but if you want to opt for an emotional outburst we can do that. Love your channel ❤️

[topaz]

*rolls up sleeves*
Your disrespect is showing

Edit: this comment was made towards the mom/parent's quote "your tisim is showing", it's not about the video as a hole

[kiwimiwi]

I was making friends at a concert once and when I got super excited about mutual interests both of them looked at me and went, "Yep. You fit right into out friend group."
And fit I did :D

[theupson]

"ew, honey? the real you is visible"
-parent of the year

[mylesfoxx]

I’m so lucky to have friends who also have adhd and autism because they understand how it’s hard to always mask and let me unmask around them. It’s fun being with other people who are like me and we can just vibe and be ourselves!

[Treenabeaner]

My mom forced me to heavily mask myself growing up & we both didn’t know that’s what she was teaching me because I barely became aware of my autism and adhd this year. Masking feels so embedded in me that when I let down my mask I feel embarrassed and shame myself. >_<
My mom and I didn’t have a good relationship growing up but in my 30’s it’s getting better and now I see how she always hid her stims too. I guess she thought she was protecting me by not letting me partake in my stims and that makes me feel sad she probably went through the same thing growing up. :(

[RiverWoods]

I am a 58-year-old autistic/ADHD woman. If anyone ever tells you to stop doing your TISM or stimming or being you, then you look them straight in the feet and tell them to stop doing their ableism! This is so toxic, and you don't have to deal with this kind of toxicity.

My employment coach is always telling me that I am so bold, and she loves that about me.

[phoenixgate]

I have no idea what I have but I definitely get overstimulated and for a lot of my life I didn’t have the words to describe what was happening to me. I’m grateful to so many content creators for sharing their experiences and giving me a vocabulary explain my experiences.

[rosepuppy]

Last week after school I just didn’t feel like talking and was having a minor non-verbal episode. But I was with my mom who wasn’t used to that happening as I usually was with my dad after school and she was used to me just talking nonstop after school. She kept asking me if I was ok and I would nod and just say I didn’t feel like talking when she kept asking and wouldn’t just accept my nods. She then insisted I go to bed early as she thought I was really tired. I was just normal tired. I just didn’t want to talk so I couldn’t really explain to her what was going on which was kinda annoying.
Also during Thanksgiving break we saw Wakanda Forever which was I think what caused the overstimulation but it wasn’t until we were in the car driving home and my mom and sister were talking pretty loudly (well that’s what it felt like to me anyway) that the meltdown officially started. I was curled up, hands over my ears, eyes closed as the lights when I opened them hurt them, and just wanted them to stop. Tears were rolling down my cheeks.
Fortunately this didn’t start until after we dropped of this other kid who was with us back at the place he was staying. I think that’s why the meltdown actually started when it did because I was holding it in but when he left everything just came to he surface.

[chuntacurtis]

Yeah this is sad because honestly people do this. They are embarrassed and instead of accepting them for the difference and calling people out who have an issue with it they expect the person to change. Yeah no, I will speak up for anyone who is autistic 100%. Be you, how can I help, what do you need.

[bella]

My bff is autistic and she grew up having to hide it, and it was very confusing for her because she was diagnosed young but her parents didnt tell her until she was 17. I cant imagine growing up being that confused with why my brain worked a little different then everyone else. And then being treated like she was dumb and told to not show any difference and not telling her.

[francinebabineau]

As a parent, when i see my kiddo doing this I excuse myself with them to make sure they are good and if not I will help them. if they want to be alone I will make sure they have what they need and are safe before I step away enough for them to be comfortable but I'm still close by enough to be right there if they need me. Nobody is that important to me that I would ignore my kids needs like that.

[andreaknight]

As someone who struggles with masking I feel this. People who think masking is "good" and helpful have never masked. It's exhausting and probably lead to my nervous breakdown at seventeen (starting official diagnosis journey in four days).

[SillyVagabond]

I never realized how much of my behavior came from my adhd until I started watching your channel

[greenghoul]

Not me literally hair twirl stimming as this swiped up lmaooo

[lfrydeecat]

With my adhd if someone doesn't leave after the first couple of times of me nicely pushing them away when overstimulated i freak out and yell. I always feel bad after.

[ShinigamiMischief]

As much as I love my mother, there were things she said to me that neither of us would realise would have such an effect on me after childhood. I went through my entire childhood all the way to early adulthood without knowing I had ADHD, and her saying things like “stop interrupting people” or my dad saying “why are you always fidgeting, stop it” lead to me being incredibly shy, reserved and not as happy as I was as a child. My dad even said “what happened to my happy go lucky little girl, did we do something wrong” when I was a teenager and had social anxiety and depression (ADHD’s best friends). Back then I didn’t really put two and two together.

Note: I do love and appreciate my parents, they didn’t know that what they said would hurt me this way, things have changed since the 90’s and early 00’s,