Published on 12, July, 2020
How do you drop the mask and how do you even identify it in the first place? It's so engrained
I think it is. Other people will disagree I'm sure, but maybe the 'mask' is kind of part of you. It's a whole bunch of habits that have grown up, like a tree that's grown around a fence.
I feel like I'm talking out of my hat, but here goes:
The first thing is to tell someone. If they're not interested, that probably doesn't help. If they are and ask what it means to you, you could get feedback about how you appear to them - some of those things could be authentic atypical you, some bits could be masking something, some bits could be authentic but typical.
Beyond that, how about meeting other autistic people who might be able to see through the mask? You may be interested in Caroline Hearst's 'Autism Matters': http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/you/article-2805241/I-ve-felt-like-outsider-Caroline-Hearst-s-autism-diagnosed-age-55.html
Or in this thread:http://community.autism.org.uk/f/adults-on-the-autistic-spectrum/12470/has-thinking-of-yourself-as-autistic-changed-your-social-behaviour
The Daily Mail article was interesting. But one thing I didn't pick up from it, which is significant, is whether her receiving and accepting her diagnosis of autism reduced or stopped occurrences of her depression?
Maybe we should ask Caroline. I think I recall her saying that diagnosis and looking at things in a frame of neurodiversity has both reduced her depression and been a different way of looking at things... but it's a good question.
Here's Caroline's site: http://autismmatters.org.uk/