Versteckter Autismus entmaskiert: Von der Befreiung, die eigene Neurodivergenz zu akzeptieren und autistische Symptome nicht länger zu unterdrücken

by Devon Price, Max Limper (translator)

Auf jede erkennbar autistische Person, die uns begegnet, kommen unzählige verborgene Autistinnen und Autisten, die als neurotypisch durchgehen, weil sie ihre Symptome gekonnt überspielen. Diese sogenannte Maskierung, die Unterdrückung erkennbar autistischer Züge, um sich den gesellschaftlichen Normen anzupassen, ist eine gängige Bewältigungsstrategie. Dazu gehört, dass eigentlich harmlose Stimmungen unterdrückt und Kommunikationsprobleme ignoriert werden, Betroffene sich als bescheiden und sanftmütig präsentieren und sich in Situationen zwingen, die starke Ängste auslösen, damit sie nicht als hilflos oder seltsam angesehen werden. Maskierung führt dazu, dass Autismus oft erst spät erkannt wird, nicht selten im Erwachsenenalter wie bei Dr. Devon Price – und sie geht auf Kosten der psychischen Gesundheit mit Folgen bis hin zum Burnout.
In Verborgener Autismus teilt Dr. Devon Price seine persönlichen Erfahrungen mit der Maskierung und verbindet Geschichte, sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung und echte Fallbeispiele, um die Geschichte der Neurodivergenz aus einer Insiderperspektive heraus neu zu erzählen. Für Dr. Price und viele andere ist Autismus eine Quelle der Einzigartigkeit und Schönheit. Leider bedeutet das Leben in einer neurotypischen Welt, dass er auch eine Quelle der Entfremdung und des Schmerzes sein kann. Die meisten verborgenen Autisten leiden still jahrzehntelang, bevor sie entdecken, wer sie wirklich sind. Viele werden aufgrund ihrer Ethnie, ihres Geschlechts, ihrer sexuellen Orientierung, ihrer Klasse und anderer Faktoren zusätzlich an den Rand gedrängt, was ihr Leiden und ihre Unsichtbarkeit noch erhöht. Dr. Price legt mit diesem bahnbrechenden Buch den Grundstein für die Demaskierung und bietet Übungen an, die zur authentischen Selbstentfaltung ermutigen, die sich etwa darin
-besondere Interessen zu zelebrieren,
-autistische Beziehungen zu kultivieren,
-autistische Stereotype zu hinterfragen,
-und die eigenen Werte wiederzuentdecken.
Es ist an der Zeit, die Bedürfnisse, die Vielfalt und die einzigartigen Stärken autistischer Menschen zu würdigen, damit sie sich nicht länger verstecken müssen – und es ist an der Zeit für eine größere öffentliche Akzeptanz. Indem wir Neurodiversität annehmen, können wir alle von den Vorteilen der Nonkonformität profitieren und lernen, authentisch zu leben, Autisten und Neurotypische gleichermaßen.

Genres: Nonfiction, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Psychology, Mental Health, Self Help, Audiobook, Disability

333 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 5, 2022

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Breaking my "no reviews" policy because this mess of a book somehow has over 4 stars on here. This is not a good book. This is not even an acceptable book. At times I was convinced that it must be satire, but apparently it is not(?)

About 2% of the content in this book is interesting and useful. It is spread diffusely across the first couple chapters. The rest of the book betrays the author's unhealthy relationship with the concept of identity, as well as a shocking lack of self-awareness and a disturbing degree of hypocrisy. The author presents well-known maladaptive behaviors as reasonable "special interests" and "stims," and fails to connect their specific history of psychological turmoil to the compulsions they proudly depict in the text.

The author speaks in sweeping generalizations, despite this being a book about "diversity." The author portrays autistic people as "weirdos," "nerds," and "geeks." The author disparages the notion of giftedness, placing the word in quotes any time it is used, and fails to acknowledge the entire 2e population outside of the context of a "trope." In a book that urges the reader to rethink how society alienates autistic people, the author openly alienates autistic people.

Sex and gender play a strange role in this book. The author presents many anecdotes from autistic people who care about their gender identity and sexual orientation, but fails to acknowledge the many autistic people who could not care less about either of these things. The author also presents sex work as a strictly positive choice that some autistic people make for themselves, despite writing in Chapter 4 about how consent can be tricky for autistic people and describing in many places the ways in which autistic people are vulnerable to abuse and manipulation. It goes on and on. I finished reading out of a morbid fascination, but it's not worth it.

Beyond its various harms, this book completely fails to live up to its promise. It purports to be a "guide" to the process of unmasking, but it barely touches upon any mechanisms for how to unmask psychologically -- a process that requires far more than simply choosing to do so -- and completely fails to address the cognitive changes that occur in the process. It contains various self-help-style elements like tables and worksheets, but the exercises are, as another reviewer said, the type of thing you could easily find on pinterest. There's no insight here whatsoever.

The book's large-scale structure appears to make sense, but the text itself is disorganized and repetitive. The book contains several obvious typographical errors (homophone substitutions) and the writing on a small scale is mediocre at best. As other reviewers have said, do not let the fact that this person works in academia fool you.

Finally, just a personal gripe: this book talks a lot more about "autistic identity" than about autism itself. Those are not the same thing. If the book had been called "unmasking autistic identity" I would not have wasted the three hours of my life I spent reading it.

TL;DR -- This person is not an expert on autism and should not be treated as such. Skip this book.

[Helen Hoang · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely essential read for people on the spectrum and those who love them.

[Jenna ❤ ❀ ❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To unmask is to lay bare a proud face of noncompliance, to refuse to buckle under the weight of neurotypical demands. It’s an act of bold activism as well as a declaration of self-worth."

Hello, I'm Jenna and I'm neurospicy.

When I read Hannah Gadsby's brilliant memoir Ten Steps to Nanette last month, I was shocked to discover how much I related to things she said pertaining to her being Autistic. I realized how little I knew about autism and how much I wanted to learn more..... and it made me wonder if some of my own "quirks" have something to do with being on the spectrum.

When my GR friend Ashley rated this book five stars shortly afterwards, I immediately placed a hold on it. Ashley is also to thank for that wonderfully descriptive and fun new adjective I've adopted - neurospicy. (Thanks, Ashley!)

What an eye opener this book is.

Usually when I write a review, I click on my highlights (if you read Kindle format, they're automatically saved to GR) and review them to help me process my thoughts and decide what it is I most want to share.

Typically for nonfiction, I have between ten and twenty highlights, maybe thirty if there are a lot of cool facts I want to remember.

In this book, I made 97 highlights which is a record. So where do I even begin with a review?! (especially when it's going to take weeks to process everything I learned)

If you're like most people (me included prior to this book), you think all Autistic people are the stereotypical Rain Man type or Sheldon in Big Bang Theory: Socially awkward and even annoying people who are geniuses in certain areas but can be total assholes because they're clueless when it comes to socializing. 

However, many Autistics learn to "mask" in order to seem more acceptable and "normal" and to protect ourselves from harm. At great personal cost, we strive to "be" what our neurotypical society says we should be, no matter how much suffering it causes us. We go undiagnosed because we do such a good job of hiding our "weirdnesses" (my term for myself) and because most mental health workers are not educated in what autism really is and how so many people learn to blend in.

"At least half of all Autistics in the [US] are currently undiagnosed, and the diagnosis rate is likely far lower for women, trans people, people of color, and those in poverty."

I was shocked to learn that so many things about me is most likely due to me being Autistic (I haven't been formally diagnosed - I took several online assessments all indicating I am but I need to talk to my dr about getting formally assessed).

These traits I either thought were true of everyone (such as planning out conversations beforehand - which is exhausting in itself, because you have to think up as many comments the other person might make and how you should respond, in order to be prepared for them) or things I thought was just weird about me (such as my extreme sensitivity to all stimuli or the way I need to sway my body all the time and in the past, flap my hands in private).

I was surprised to learn that most people's brains filter out many/most details, details that Autistic people can't help but notice and that accounts for our easily getting overstimulated. An example is when a neurotypical (NT) person takes a photograph and there's a telephone pole smack dab in the middle of it. Sorry NT People, but this drives me crazy: Why would someone do that? Why not move to a different angle to get rid of the pole? Couldn't they see it?!

No, they probably didn't. NT brains filter out the details deemed unimportant, seeing the "Big Picture" rather than every single detail - every bush and tree and bird and leaf and telephone pole - and that's just visual stimuli. You also have every sound and smell and the longer you hear or smell something, the more intense it becomes until you either have a meltdown or shutdown. 

"Autistic people perceive all the individual trees, and stumps, and rotting animal carcasses. The thousands of small features don’t effortlessly combine into something larger for us, so we have to process all of it separately."

It's not that my co-workers who also catalog are lazy and want to do a crappy job. Their brains aren't obsessed with details like mine is. This obsession with details makes Autistic people really good at certain types of work like cataloging and coding. 

The author of this book does a fabulous job explaining what autism is and how so many people mask it. He includes a lot of reflection exercises for helping Autistic people figure out who it is they are when they're not masking. He explains how masking helps us get by but also harms us, and offers suggestions for living a more authentic life.

This book is also for neurotypical people who want to learn more about autism and how we can all work together to create a more inclusive society that is more accessible for Autistic people.

One example of this are the stores that have started having Autistic Hours where they turn off the music and dim the lights. How I wish all stores did this! I find it next to impossible to go inside stores because they're so noisy and bright, aside from the plethora of items and people demanding notice.

Mr. Price interviews several Autistic people and there is some overlap and repetition. The repetition is annoying but as someone who goes on and on and on about something that interests me, constantly repeating myself (I don't know how my partner puts up with me), I can forgive this. 

I love that he points out specific ways that Autistics who are minorities in other ways as well (such as transgender people, Black and Brown people, etc) are further harmed by society's misconceptions and cultural demand for "normality".

I am astounded by how much I've come to understand about myself and my oddities because of this book. It makes me less judgmental and more appreciative about all my perceived faults (the ways I'm different from "normal" people). 

As noted above, it will take me weeks to process all that I learned and how it makes sense of just about every aspect of who I am - the "I" that I strive so hard to hide from others and which makes it almost impossible to be around other people even for short periods of time.

I am so grateful for this book and Mr. Price and the people who allowed themselves to be interviewed for this book and for all that I learned.

"It was my attempt at a neurotypical persona that failed me—the real me was a beautiful person who deserved so much more."

[Lane Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

lots of validating stuff but I was annoyed by his generalizations. this concept of unmasking is only available to very specific types of people, mostly white, documented, middle class, low needs individuals. he mentions the risks associated for more marginalized people at a few different points but something just didn’t sit right with me.

maybe i can explain it from my issue with the subtitle: “Discovering the new faces of neurodiversity” — “Discover” sounds like some weird colonizer mentality, and none of the “faces” are new, they’ve just been cast out, murdered, institutionalized, imprisoned, etc.

he’s a middle class academic who’s anti-work, but I don’t think he’s held a labor or even retail job in his life? he shills his “laziness is a lie” book all over social media but has a high paying cushy job in academia and no student loan debt like…okay dude. I’d rather hear about anti-work strategies from people organizing from “the bottom” of the class hierarchy than some funded phd pipelined professor. he did a reddit AMA and when people asked him more critical questions his answer was “maybe you should read my book”!

baiting people with anti-work hot takes on social media in order to sell more books is antithetical to the true concept of anti-work solidarity.

just feels like another instance of a rich white person capitalizing on the historic efforts of more marginalized ppl.

[Tina Loves To Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Non-Fiction book about Autism. I found a lot of this book interesting and informative, but there was some things in this book I do not fully agree with. I think each person Autism story is very different which this book did a good job showing that fact. Maybe it is just the area I live in North Carolina, USA, but Autism test is under mental health testing (so health insurance covers it with just a normal co-pay). I also live near a big hospital that has a part that just does Autism Testing. My son, daughter, and husband (and a lot of his family) has Autism. I was at both my children's test and the test was not fun. I read a ton of books about Autism to try to understand how they see the world. I love reading books written by people that has Autism. I am going to get my husband to read this book, and his Aunt that also as Autism. I think this book is more for people that has Autism then family of them. I did enjoy reading and getting more points of views. This book is more about Adults with Autism and how they handle it. My husband just makes me do all the social things for him. He works as a truck driver, so he does not see a ton of people through out the day. I remember when I first started dating my husband, and we went out of dinner he just got up and left. I did not know what was going on. I pay and went outside find him just walking around outside talking to himself. I asked him what was wrong and he said it was to loud. That is all he said. I know there was something different, but I still really liked him. Lucky, We went to dinner at his Aunt's house the next weekend she sit me down and told me everything. I was like ok we can just order pizza at home and watch movies at the house. We can do this. We have been together for almost 20 years now. There has been times I want to yell at him to just do it, but I know that it is just him. My son is different then my husband in that he loves loud noises, and he loves to just stand and watch people. Autism is very different for everyone that as it, and I think this book shows that. I love that about this book. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Harmony) or author (Devon Price) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

[Aaron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got diagnosed with autism at 17 a couple years ago and have been experiencing burnout lately, so I thought learning about unmasking might be beneficial to me. This was my mindset going into the book, and what I hoped to learn about.
I greatly enjoyed the first half of this book — it felt informative, had relevant anecdotes, etc. Overall, I felt like I could (kind of) connect with the material. I appreciated that Dr. Price acknowledges the class and racial barriers to getting a diagnosis, and how these factors play into one’s identity and social standing as a disabled person.
However, aside from these good points, I had a lot of problems with this book. In no particular order:
1. There is more nuance and issues with self diagnosis that Price does not touch on. The possibility that self diagnosis could be wrong, that self diagnosis does not grant needed accommodations, having time and access to diagnostic tools in a non-medical setting, self diagnostic tools are very much centred on low-support needs white boys, etc.
2. The way (Cluster B) personality disorders are talked about. Yes, it is true that personality disorders are very stigmatised and medical professionals are often unwilling to work with those with PDs. Price does not acknowledge that ASD and PDs can co-occur. That was a small thing, it just bugged me.
3. Autism would still be a disability, even if society was totally 100% accommodating and accepting. It felt as though Price was implying that if society was totally accepting of autistic folks’ “weirdness” (and I honestly resent how often Price refers to autistics as weirdos), then there would be little/if any problems with being autistic, and all the barriers would disappear. This is simply not true. Autism is a developmental disability that affects communication, sensory and cognitive processing, fluid reasoning, and many more. Price claims that autistic traits, such as difficulty changing tasks, are not actually things that hold us back. This is not true. Autism is diagnosed because these behaviours cause daily interference, and autistics would still be disabled, regardless of society.
4. Price is speaking from an incredibly narrow perspective. This ties in with my previous point. Price’s points largely apply to low-support needs individuals who have the luxury (and the choice!) to be able to unmask. Price is white and financially stable, and it shows in their work. Choosing to unmask is, on some levels, a privilege. While masking is taxing, being able to mask is a thing that many autistics cannot do. Price does not really acknowledge high-support needs folks. Or how expensive non-professional accommodations can be, such as noise-cancelling headphones.
5. The little anecdotes get old! There’s so many of them peppered in throughout the book, and it starts to feel less like stories to support Price’s point, and more like Price was shouting out each of their friends.
Ultimately, this book isn’t bad (quick/easy read, informative-ish), but it is very much made for a specific group of people. If you’re not low-support needs, this book is not for you.
EDIT: fixed a typo

[Clifton D. Healy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. I wanted to give it four stars. I felt it started pretty well in the first couple of chapters. Then the author lost me in the middle chapters. I looked ahead, and I hoped that I might recover some ground in the final chapters, which by title appeared to promise some hope. But in the end, it remained a muddled mess. This is a book supposedly advising the reader on coming to terms with an autism diagnosis, and learning to integrate that diagnosis into a whole life. It is much less that, and much more a discussion, along with autism, of various other matters: gender identity, various mental health conditions (including depression and schizophrenia), sex work, among others. It is less about the personal integration of an autism diagnosis (though there is that), and more extended discussions and pronouncements on public policy related to disability, LGBTQ+ matters, social justice, and so forth. The author makes clear why these things are interrelated (in the author's mind at least), but there is very little actual discussion and advice on specifically integrating an *autism* diagnosis. By including all these other topics, the author blurs any distinctions between a genetic and neurological developmental condition, and other self-identities and mental health concerns. That the author speaks, for example, of a sex worker (from context, it appears this person is a stripper/exotic dancer)--who happens to be autistic--in a favorable light, without also discussing the abuse, manipulation and sex trafficking that are made possible by the sex worker industry, definitively lessens the author's credibility, and simply distracts from the core concern the book appears to promise. Indeed, in the final pages of the book, the author advocates for defunding the police, dismantling the prison system, and sending social workers on emergency calls. We have gone far afield of the topic at this point. On the positive side, the book does include a handful of exercises, scattered throughout, that one may go through to assist in the process of coming to terms with and integrating an autism diagnosis. But none of these are unique and similar things can be found on Pinterest and the internet. And when it comes down to the final summation of advice, the author says that unmasking (disclosing one's autism diagnosis) can potentially result in the loss of one's job, relationships, and so on. And while this is true, this final message to the reader, after doing all these exercises, and pursuing all the social justice, gender identity, and public policy dead ends, is that when it comes to unmasking and revealing your autism diagnosis, meh, best not to. Lord, have mercy. Don't waste your money or your time on this book, as I did.

[M.S. Wells · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel like maybe “Autistic Self-Love: finding self-acceptance and self-confidence in a neurotypical world” would have been a better title.

When I read with this framework, it felt like a 4 star book.

But when I read it hoping to “discover” (which is a very problematic term when used about people) “new faces”, I felt like this book didn’t present enough statistics for who these new faces are.

The author makes a lot of generalizations for how Autistic people who mask experience the sensory and social worlds and his generalizing honestly just revealed (to me) an embarrassing lack of awareness and insight on the part of the author. How can he presume to say how everyone experiences light or sound or touch or internal body functions, etc. etc.??? He can’t. He can give examples. But that’s not how he framed them.

The author relied SO heavily on his friends’ and acquaintances’ stories but without giving each one the level of depth I think most readers would have found helpful. Some had more depth than others, which was inconsistent.

The worst part was how he kept throwing in comments about how this or that tactic of unmasking isn’t safe for most Black and Brown people, etc.

It felt like a commercial for a new drug that “might cause coma, heart attack, even death.” For example, he has entire chapters devoted to encouraging people to accept their stims and not hold them back. The more people who do this, he says, the more Autistics are visible in public, which can help push neurotypical people to not only be more accepting but also support the demand that more and better accommodations and public support be made for neurodiversity. Then he puts in one or two sentences about how Black and Brown people could be killed on sight for exhibiting stimming behavior in public. Like…what?!

I am a Black late-diagnosed Autistic pansexual cisgender woman, so my perspective stems from these intersections of lived experience.

To me, each of these comments felt very much like an afterthought and I felt this was somewhat offensive. I guess I’m supposed to be happy those statements were at least IN the book, but no. Because I felt like they were almost throwaway comments - made so he couldn’t be criticized for not including them but, in reality, glossed over and not treated with the depth and historical context they deserved. Kind of like spiritual bypassing.

Unmasking for Black people, women (trans and cis), Brown people, people who have other disabilities, especially visible disabilities, people who are undocumented, people living in societies other than the ones they were cultured into, etc. honestly deserves its own book.

It might have been valuable to me if Dr. Price had made a statement at the book’s opening that he can’t speak to all of these intersections with the rigor they deserve and is presenting here primarily experiences of XYZ group with some other people’s experiences as well but does not want to presume to know or be able to analyze what unmasking is for people who are more minoritized and marginalized and at risk than he is. That would have helped. Some awareness and an attempt to not make this book be all things at once.

[Emma Mrmn · Rating 3 out of 5]

*just going to pretend I read the last two chapters thoroughly*

- this book is most suited for readers living in the USA, understandable as the writer is also American. but it does make it a lot less relatable for anyone not American.
- it started out good, but especially in te second half of the book I really felt this was written for a specific type of autistic person. Even though the author supports that every autistic person is unique (which is, especially in research quite hard to deal with), the only type of autism that was represented was the "autistic nerd" that has a special interest, some talent and a hyperfocus. The constant use of "we" to represent a bunch of people that are vastly different was getting annoying.
- the writing got a bit mushy, overly-positive "we have unique lifestyles" and all that, filled with personal or other peoples stories that didn't interest me at all, nor could I learn anything from them

[Curmudgeon · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s like Tumblr became animate and wrote a book. The handful of potentially interesting or useful bits are buried in a mountain of bullshit sprung from the author’s cartoonish and fanciful web of logically-inconsistent ideological priors.

[Lea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this near unreadable. I hoped this would be about masking and unmasking autism, instead it's anecdotal, personal and has a structure that made me want to tear my hair out.

Unlike the author I do think strict guidelines what is and isn't autism can be helpful (because what even are we talking about if the diagnosis is as vague as Price wants it to be?) and I think diagnosis is relevent. If it were possible, I'd get tested myself, but as of now, that sadly isn't in the cards for me even though my therapist encourages it. So I'm a) trying to understand what autism is and isn't and how it applies to myself and b) looking for help with the things that do apply to myself, for whatever reason.

The theory that it would be good to unmask and, thus, not find communication with people as challenge, is interesting. I wish the author explained a) how to do that and b) how to navigate a word that makes masking necessary in the first place. The absurd notion that I have to surround myself only with autistic and non-cis people for this to be possible is just that: absurd. Especially when these characteristics merely mean anyone who feels like they belong to the group. Besides, I don't believe that cutting yourself of from "normal" people is the way to go for any autistic people and the way Price glorifies the "us vs them" mentality, whether in regards to autism or gender, were really off putting.

There is so much more wrong with this book, but I find the other 1 and 2 stars reviews have covered it. Onwards to hopefully more helpful books.

[Joshua · Rating 1 out of 5]

Epically awful book by a nonclinical psychologist who use personal experience to make broad claims about a complex condition; Falsely attributes symptoms of comorbid conditions as symptoms of autism; and fails to point the reader to any solid empirical research.
Instead of this, read anything by Simon Baron Cohen.

[Martine Francois · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked Unmasking Autism by Devon Price to give myself a broader insight into the neurodiversity movement happening in autism but I trudged to finish this book in order to complete my review. This book mostly stayed on the topic of how LGBTQ seems to almost have a symbiotic relationship with autism and how they are under diagnosed or have slipped through the cracks. Maybe it was my expectation from the title that threw me off, but I expected less about gender issues and more about autism per say. I don’t see this book helping anyone get a better grasp of autism. I do however see a reader coming off believing that almost all autistic individuals have gender identification issues and tend to belong under the LGBTQ umbrella, and I doubt that to be factual. I will have to do my own research on that one. This review was given on the ARC copy received from the Publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is short, accessible and very informative! Price is trans and autistic, and was only diagnosed later in life. He blends narrative of his own lived experience with many interviews and thorough research. This book encourages compassion, self-knowledge, community building, and unmasking- the process of shedding the habits many autistic people employ to hide or mask their autistic traits. As a queer person pondering my own potential place on the autism spectrum, this book was an excellent introduction and gave me a lot of food for thought!

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not the audience intended for this book. I wasn’t looking for genderqueer ideology or activism, just insight into traits that I and some family members share. I was able to do a deeper dive on Reddit.

[Rosemary Nagy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ughhh. I wanted to like this book SO bad. The disappointment is particularly painful because I had such high hopes.

First, let’s go through the positives. He makes a lot of interesting points! I liked the introduction and first chapter the best, where we learn a bit more about how autism presents on brain scans and the like, and it delves a bit into the science of it. I liked the medical vs social disability aspect, and how a significant portion of what renders us autistic folks disabled is a lack of accommodation. I liked hearing all of the other autistic folk’s stories. That was really interesting and cool.

Around the halfway point is where things started to go downhill imo. There was as much, if not more, discussion of gender identity, sexuality, and race as there was discussion of autism. I would’ve been fine with that if this was a book on those things, but it really felt like autism was shoved to the back so we could focus fully on other matters. The way it was handled felt very much so like virtue signaling, like he was cramming as many social justice subjects in as he could so that you can’t say anything negative without being racist, homophobic, or transphobic. I’m all for supporting autistics who belong to those groups, but this is marketed as a book on autism, not a book on gender studies and race. I picked it up because I wanted a book on autism. I didn’t want a book on violence against the LGBTQ community and racial oppression with a few mentions of autism. Again, it very much felt like virtue signaling.

The thing that really upset me was when he said being autistic is “an eerily similar experience” to being a closeted gay person. In what way is being closeted equivalent to being disabled?? He goes on to talk about how in both cases people are so oppressed and can’t ever truly be themselves. I honestly find this really offensive. Being closeted doesn’t make it so you have to drop out of college because you’re in so much pain all the time you can’t keep up. Being closeted doesn’t make it so you can’t leave your bedroom for months at a time because the entire world is too stimulating. Being closeted doesn’t make it so you go fully nonverbal for days and physically can’t ask for help. Being closeted doesn’t make it so you can never live alone because you can’t manage basic tasks like bathing or cooking without help. Being closeted doesn’t make it so you can’t drive due to spacial awareness issues, or make it so you’re fully dependent on AAC to communicate. Saying that being closeted is equivalent to having a disability is extremely disrespectful, not only to disabled people but also to closeted people. They aren’t remotely similar.

Another thing that bothered me was when he was talking about finding community and giving advice on how to connect to other autistic people, and he said to “make sure to center Black and brown and queer voices in your autistic spaces” (paraphrasing bc I don’t remember the word for word). I’m all for supporting and uplifting minorities, but I think when you’re trying to find ~autistic~ community, it should be the ~autistic~ voices centered?? This felt especially off coming from a white man. (yes I know he’s trans, that doesn’t change my feelings here.) Again, it felt very much like virtue signaling.

The final thing that bothered me is at the end, when he started getting into accommodations that we as Autistic people need, and how to push for said accommodations. The accommodations he thinks would benefit the autistic community? Outlawing loud music in businesses, defunding the police, and abolishing prisons. I’m sorry, what???? Yes, reducing the volume in most places would be nice for me, but I think pushing for loud music to be outlawed seems kind of ridiculous. His entire argument for defunding the police and abolishing prisons is that they’re racially unjust institutions, which sure, but talk about that in a book on race, not a book on autism. Neither of those things have anything whatsoever to do with autism or accommodating Autistic people. According to him, if we could just outlaw loud music, defund the police, and abolish prisons, we’d be set! No mention of the autistic people who stim with loud music, or the autistic people whose abusers are currently in prison, or the autistic people who love going to concerts. Those people aren’t important, all we care about here is making sure the pedophiles who prey on autistic people at much higher rates don’t get arrested! /s

So yeah. I was really excited to read this book, and I went into it fully expecting to love it. Unfortunately I did not love it. :(

[Camelia Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a science book. In fact, the author deliberately brushes aside medical science and downplays the biological basis of autism. Price advocates for self-diagnosis and claims talking about biology is unnecessary and outdated. While it is important to value the lived experience of an autistic person, such an anti-science stance is hardly persuasive.

The book has some interesting points. For example, autism in women and girls often does not fit the stereotypical description of autism that was based on men and boys. Such ignorance is not new and not limited to autism. Heart attack is often misdiagnosed in women because symptoms are not always the same as in men. Women and girls are better at masking their neurodiversity, hence they might have a greater need to unmask. However, the fact that medical science has not caught up with diagnosing and treating autism means we need more and better medical science, not less.

It is clear that the book aims at a narrow subset of autistic people: mildly autistic, low assistance needs, educated, middle-class, especially those who are also transgender or non-binary. The author shoves different degrees of autism into the same bag, claiming that unmasking is the best way for the entire group going forward is just not true. At best, Price is ignorant for disregarding the complexity of autism and human nature in general, and at worst, disingenuous.

Devon Price not only deploys no scientific study, but also cherry picks existing evidence and even lived experience from his own circle of friends. To support his point that autistic people don’t need medical treatment, he equates medical treatment with ABA, then misrepresents ABA therapy by equating it to a specific type of practice that has been 20 years out of date. In one chapter, Price made a passing comment that autistic women find sex work easier to handle. Since he wrote the buzzword for Fern Brady’s memoir (Brady being a Scottish autistic comedian who once worked in strip clubs), and Brady did say in the beginning she found sex work less challenging in a way, Price must have known Brady's view on sex work. In Brady’s book, she documented her struggle as a sex worker, explained that sex work came with its own kind of, and difficult, challenges, and eventually she was able to quit. Such nuance is nowhere to be found in Price's book.

[Richard Propes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Devon Price is a social psychologist, writer, activist, and professor at Chicago's Loyola University who, with "Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity," has crafted an informative, insightful, and engaging deep dive into the Autism experience and, more specifically, the phenomenon known as "masking," a coping skill in which Autistic people with identifiable traits hide those traits in an effort to better blend in to a society that often rejects these traits as "odd" or "needy."

Unfortunately, this coping mechanism often comes at the expense of one's mental health and with "Unmasking Autism" Dr. Price offers a surprisingly straightforward and accessible path toward unmasking with exercises that encourage self-expression including celebrating special interests, cultivating Autistic relationships, reframing Autistic stereotypes, and rediscovering one's own values.

Dr. Price, author of "Laziness Does Not Exist," simply yet compassionately celebrates the rewards of nonconformity and learning how to live authentically.

"Unmasking Autism" celebrates the new faces of neurodiversity while also issuing a call for a more diversity celebrating society that honors differences.

"Unmasking Autism" will, of course, deeply resonate with those who are Autistic or who identify as someone who does "mask" or at least someone who can relate to "masking." However, "Unmasking Autism" is also a valuable resource for those who work in the field of Autism, those support or simply love someone with Autism, or even someone, myself included, who has always felt neurodiverse yet never officially been "diagnosed."

"Unmasking Autism" is a book that stimulates intellectually and resonates emotionally. I found myself often diving deeper into topics while also often stopping to shed a tear or two. As an adult with Spina Bifida, a birth defect often associated Autism, and someone who works in the field of Autism, I have often found myself doing exactly what Dr. Price identifies here as "masking." They explain everything beautifully and with a tenderness that reveals deep respect and something resembling a literary warm hug.

Those who embrace a more ABA approach to Autism may be most likely to struggle with "Unmasking Autism" as it's clear Dr. Price sees ABA as part of the enforced masking journey. If there's a weakness in the book, perhaps, it's that Dr. Price never really delves into this issue more fully and it's an area that deserves deeper exploration.

"Unmasking Autism" is filled with wonderfully practical exercises and a myriad of people who serve as examples of this journey put forth by Dr. Price. It's a book that not only discovers the new faces of neurodiversity but celebrates these faces.

I've come away from the book feeling engaged, enlightened, enfolded, and encouraged.

That's an awful lot of ens. I know. I know.

Seriously, as I wind down my 2021 reading I'm grateful to have discovered this little indie gem from Dr. Devon Price that will be officially released in 2022. Watch for it. It's a winner.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still working through my thoughts on this book. I've followed Dr. Price's work for a few years now and have repeatedly been moved to shift my thinking substantially on many issues as a result of his work and writing. Having read his Medium essays, I see many of his best pieces folded into the chapters of this book.

I think I expected (or perhaps just wanted) something slightly more academically-focused on the phenomenon of masking that I could throw in the face of everyone in my academic psych department, but the format instead is more like "you're probably reading this because you think you might be a masked neurodivergent person, or you love someone who is, so here are a few citations of evidence about this chapter's topics and then here is an excellent exercise for identifying your values within this context."

What I'm still working through: I don't think I expected to walk away from the book unsure if I am on the autism spectrum, but man did this book's exercises bring up a lot of very vivid and traumatic childhood memories around social misunderstandings and ostracization, lol! For the last few years in my grad program, I've had a low-key special interest in how academic psychologists errantly describe autism and I hadn't been able to place why, as someone who considered themselves allistic. (For anyone unfamiliar, it's a lot of maddening work on "mindblindness," a lot of conflation with spoken language and IQ, and it's used as a casual throw-away counter-example in articles discussing normative psychological development.) But I have gobbled up work from M. Remi Yergeau and subsequently Devon Price, loving to learn more from the supposed sidelines, and given several presentations in my psychopathology courses (to my knowledge full of allistics) around scientific misconceptions of autism and how actively harmful they have been to many autistics. I have long seen myself as non-neurotypical (I have OCD [and not the cleaning-focused kind], depression, get panic attacks, take brain drugs, etc.) and have not known whether to describe myself as a cluster of symptomologies or as someone whose synapses behave in a slightly off-normed way. Reading this book, I am tempted to conclude I am a highly socially-motivated and highly-masked autistic with low support needs, but am also cautious about what that means for me. I don't think it means I get to now take up space on psychological research concerning autism. I don't even know if I should be referring to myself as autistic, or if I should think of myself as displaying a lot of sub-diagnostic-threshold traits and tendencies. But I will say that the exercises in this book are perfectly apt for me and anyone like me -- which is a point I want to drive home here, that anything that can help neurodivergent individuals is ALSO SOMETHING THAT CAN BE USEFUL to neurotypicals (*also* I very much look forward to Dr. Price continuing to develop his thoughts on neuroconformity as harmful societal force for all).

Right now in the wake of reading this book I'm trying to reframe how I interact with the world -- I have always been able to work in highly productive boon-bust cycles where I do a lot of things socially/work-related/in physical space and then need a few days to recover and be more hermit-like, and have generally thought of this as a personal failing. Maybe this is just my brain rhythm. I had been thinking of my relationship to some noise-heavy music as strange, and now I can understand it as a (very rewarding) auditory stim. I am often overburdened with thinking of and anticipating the 500 things other people might be thinking or needing or not communicating with me at any given moment and have been for the near-3 decades of my life, and previously thought this was some millennial quirk to memorialize in comedy format. Maybe just my neurotype! I think this general understanding of myself, regardless if I conclude after more time that I identify as autistic or not, is going to be helpful to me moving forward in life.

Anyway -- these are my thoughts! Have them, world! Thank you Dr. Price for existing! Back to you next year on how I identify, lol!

[Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Out of touch, insulting, misleading, dangerous.

Out of touch.
~If you’re tired, just pay someone to clean your house and order takeout instead of cooking, tee hee!~
In this economy? My dude.
And if you don’t like your job, “just get a better, less stressful job!”
I’d like a unicorn with that magical job that will magically fall in my lap.
Or how about telling us to indiscriminately unmask while admitting doing so can get us KILLED???

Insulting.
Repeatedly calls ALL autistic people “weirdos” “nerds” etc. Condescending overmuch??

Misleading.
This book never actually teaches you how to unmask.

Dangerous.
Pushes autistic people into potentially dangerous/deadly sexual kinks after ADMITTING that autistic people are at increase risk of abuse.
Pushes autistic people (who are already at increased risk for abuse) into SEX WORK?!?!? One of the most abused professions??
This book will get autistic people KILLED.

[Stephanie Shaughnessy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m near the end of the second chapter and I’ve decided to abandon this book. It’s too infuriating for me to continue on. This is not what I expected and definitely not what I needed. Upon reflection I think the author made it clear what the book was about but I wanted to believe it was about something else, that is, masking/unmasking.

To lump the struggle of gender identity, race, and social class into the same bucket as an ASD diagnosis feels extremely problematic to me and it undermines the struggles ASD carries all on its own. I’m sure this book has value to those who come from an LQBTQ+black/brown/low-economic status but if you do not come from all 4 of these backgrounds (combined), you may not be Dr. Price’s audience and this book may not be for you. I’d recommend reading the other 1&2 star reviews for more insight.

[Booksblabbering || Cait❣️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

You ever read a book and immediately want everyone else to read it?
I want this to be part of my ‘Manual to Caitlin’.

This is extremely accessible and almost feels like talking to a friend.

Personal history:
I was recently diagnosed with autism (aged 22).
One of my brothers is statemented and thus, I grew up learning ‘acceptable social interaction’ (through therapists’ flashcards) alongside my family structuring everything around neurodivergent mindfulness and comfort.
So, I struggled with feeling like an imposter when I did start to pursue this.

Am I autistic or am I just a human struggling to fit in and find her place? Is it nature or nurture? Is it habits or neurological preference?

ONTO the review:
This book is a guide for both those with autism (diagnosed or self-diagnosed), carers, friends, employers, legislators, curious strangers.
It gives advice to both neurotypical and neurodivergent people.

Looking back at my own experiences and preferences and strengths in this new light, I understand myself better as well as the world around me.

I don’t identify with all of the traits described. Does that mean I’m not autistic? Not autistic enough? Crying wolf?
What really helped me with this reading is being able to discuss my findings with my own mum and see how it relates to different people.

This may not be the bookclub pick you had in mind, but it would be a worthwhile, relevant, and helpful one.

The author touches on intersection, the strengths and weakness of autism, and how we should navigate the world.

Ultimately, unmasking or masking should be up to the individual. It should be what makes them comfortable.

There is a lot for me to unpack after reading this and I’m considering buying a physical copy as I borrowed the audiobook from the library.


Edit: I’ve read through other reviews that criticise how this also dives into queer and minority communities. Therefore, they find it less useful in highlighting autism for the masses.

First of all, privilege much?
Secondly, this is not a true clinical guidebook and almost reads like a memoir at parts, so this didn’t bother me. You’ve read my review, I threw in my own experiences to make sense of my reflection on this book. Does that invalidate my review?

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[Kaitlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was recently diagnosed with Level 1 Autism and ADHD at age 26, and I have two children who are diagnosed with Level 3 Autism, both of whom have high support needs and are nonspeaking.  I say that because my lived experience, getting to see things from "both sides of the coin,"  can make it challenging for me to consume content that glosses over, or leaves out the nuance that exists when discussing autism and disability from the lens of someone with low support needs vs someone with higher support needs. 

Since my diagnosis, I have been seeking out content to help me along the journey of unmasking, better understanding, and accepting myself.  I went into this book pretty much blindly.  The only thing I read was the title, subtitle, synopsis, and I had seen a couple tiktok videos promoting it.

I enjoyed the first couple of chapters, and was already thinking to myself that this would likely be at least a 4-star read.  A lot of Price's points resonated with me.  However, this book got harder to read consistently after those first couple of chapters.  I found myself thinking often "sure, but you're not accounting for ___," or in some cases, completely disagreeing with Price's opinion. 

First, I think its important to note that  Price is a non-clinical psychologist who has his doctorate in social psychology.  I went into this book with the assumption that Price was a clinical psychologist and that this would be a more academic piece,  based on how I have heard others discuss it.  This book was instead, more like an opinion piece (sometimes rant), with small stories from Price's friends sprinkled throughout.  Lived experience stories from autistics are so important, but they should not be falsely attributed to psychological expertise.  Price has been misrepresented (whether intentionally on his part or not) as an expert on Autism, which I believe can be dangerous in conjunction with some of the information in this book. 

This book seems to have been written for a very specific sub-section of the autism community, and doesn't account for the experiences of others with higher support needs.  If the book were titled more appropriately, rather than "discover the new faces of..." and didn't say "we" so often, implying speaking for the autistic community as a whole, I wouldn't take as much issue with this.  I feel it's disingenuous for this book to be titled and written in the way it is, while only representing such a small portion of autistic experiences. 

Throughout the book, there are many emotionally charged, sweeping generalizations made, as well as many instances where I feel the book criticizes itself.

Price recognizes that many autistic people struggle with consent, yet promotes BDSM and sex work, without any acknowledgement that the struggle with consent he spoke of in earlier chapters could make those things dangerous for many autistics. 

Price discourages diagnosis, listing many things that could go wrong if you get professionally diagnosed, but advocates for self diagnosis without acknowledgement of what could go wrong with self diagnosis.  (You could get it wrong and not get support for what you really need support with.  There's no access to accommodations or treatment without diagnosis.)  We should be advocating for better access to diagnostic evaluations, rather than just saying "well, you don't need it anyway."  

It really rubbed me the wrong way when he reinforced the idea that "everyone is a little bit autistic."

Price is very anti-ABA, which is fine.  You can be anti-ABA.  However, he purposefully, and grossly misrepresented modern ABA therapy by equating it to practices that were used several decades ago.  I had to go back and check if this was actually written this decade because the information when speaking about ABA is so outdated.  I would have been much more receptive, had Price just touched on the current issues with therapies, such as trying to eliminate stims that are not harmful, food reinforcers, etc.  It was unnecessary to paint a false picture of ABA as it stands today.

There was also no recognition that certain stims or behaviors ARE harmful to the autistic person, and that autistic people may need help finding healthier methods of stimming or interacting that won't cause harm to themselves or others.  I vaguely remember one section discussing someone self-injuring in the same way as hand-flapping or rocking, as if self harming is not a maladaptive coping mechanism that needs to be addressed. 

Price states, more than once, that autistic people would likely not be disabled if society accommodated us appropriately.  I think only someone with a very limited scope of autism could believe that.  Sensory needs can change day to day, moment to moment.  I sometimes have a hard time figuring out how to accommodate myself, or what I'm needing or feeling in the moment.  To ask society to be 100% accommodating all the time would be asking everyone to be mind-readers and emotional psychics.  In a world where I was perfectly accommodated, I would still have sensory problems.  I would still have executive dysfunction.  I would still have miscommunications.  Not to mention, people have varying sensory needs, so you could have an environment that feels very accommodating for one autistic person, but very overstimulating for the other.   I feel that this take completely leaves out anyone who doesn't have the lowest support needs, and honestly feels dismissive. 

The way Price discusses personality disorders felt like reinforcement of the stigmas surrounding PDs, and there was no acknowledgement that autism and personality disorders can co-occur. 

It felt that there was a strong implication that all or most autistics are LGBT+, and I felt it was overdiscussed for a book about Autism.  There is a large intersection in the autistic population and LGBT+ community (I am part of that intersection).  There are also many autistics who don't understand gender or sexuality topics, and there are many who are cis and straight. 

There was a heavy implication autistics can only find safe spaces within queer or neurodivergent groups.  While those could be great resources, they arent the end all be all of socialization or belonging for autistic people.  At many points, I felt that this book further reinforced the "us vs them," "ND vs NT" mindset. 

I had other issues with the book, but others have touched on them in their reviews.  I think this is probably a good book for it's actual target audience, and there were some very good points made, as well as many things I resonated with, especially in the opening chapters.  However, it's only representative of a small population of the autistic community, and I feel that this book was misrepresented by it's title and synopsis.  This book should be read for what it is, an opinion piece/anecdotal story, rather than as an academic piece. 

[this_eel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think so much of the experience of reading this book comes from your own starting place. I know people who have read it as masked, recently diagnosed autistics who have found it revelatory and deeply helpful. It’s certainly compassionate and idealistic. It’s profoundly forgiving of autistic people’s natural inclinations, desires for comfort, and differences, and I think that’s wonderful.

I appreciate the drive towards a less punitive attitude towards yourself, the permission to like things and need things, and the intersectional viewpoint that Price takes towards disability, queerness, race, and class (although I think that these gestures towards societal change are undermined by a largely individualistic approach). I appreciate the joy he suggests in self-discovery and finding community by finding your truth.

However, it is by default focused on the perspective of autistics whose pain has been caused by sublimating their autistic feelings and behavior. I came at it from another perspective, from a perspective where masking was not something I understood to be an option, so pain has come from failure to assimilate until well into adulthood. And when I have learned how to alter behavior, it’s been as a chosen, cultivated, life-changing skill that has allowed me to express myself honestly but in a way that is effective and compassionate to others. Politically, this is just a completely different ideal than Price’s. I don’t know that either is wrong, but it did mean this book didn’t resonate as much with me as with people whose assimilation has been so based in denying their own personhood.

From that perspective I felt like Price missed out on one key thing in his support of unmasking. I think that despite some caveats, Price’s political view is that being “out” (his term claimed for disability, which I think is legit coming from a queer author) is preferable whenever possible. But first—I just don’t think autistic people have to buy into the same stance. They can choose a masked or unmasked or partially masked life based on many factors and none of those options is politically improper.

And in pursuit of the “out is the ideal” goal, I think he sometimes elides the fact that no matter who you are inside and what you intend, sometimes other people—including other neurodivergent people—can be hurt by unmoderated behavior. I think it’s important to acknowledge that because no matter how much it’s not your fault or not on purpose, hurting people does matter. Being “weird” is not harmful, but that doesn’t mean everything that comes naturally is free from harm. The book leans hard into “accommodating the autistic person is the singular goal” but neurotypical people also have needs and feelings and your search for ultimate accommodation should acknowledge the needs of others, including them and your fellow neurodiverse people. You will live the consequences even if your intentions are benign or unaware, and it’s okay to acknowledge that and find ways of navigating social situations that alleviate overwhelming, hurting, or talking over others. He says it feels “incredible to cut through polite bullshit.” But buddy, politeness doesn’t have to be bullshit and we do live in a society. It’s okay to combat the revulsion and narrowness of a profoundly ableist world without trotting silently past the issue of personal responsibility.

Overall I found this book interesting—honestly, more in understanding a few fellow neurodivergent people I know than myself. But I do think that Price’s restricted political and individualist focus impedes the utility of the book in some ways, and that’s why we’ve docked some stars.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unmask the reality of this book's content!
This book should have something in the title that relates to its content being mostly somebody whining about minority inequality in the world. Maybe state up front it is autobiographical? Maybe state up front it's just a personal rant? Not the type of writing I would expect on a neurological topic from someone with a PhD.
I get that there are issues related to race and LGBTQ culture, but I would really like to read about autism when I pick up a book that claims it is about autism. I wasn't looking for a political stance on how you are treated as a certain color or sexual orientation and how that ruins your life while also being on the spectrum. I also did not appreciate that "discovering your autism" was so closely compared to "discovering your LGBTQ status or gender identity".
Overall, if you are a person who enjoys commiserating with whiny people who offer no real solutions to any obstacles, then by all means, enjoy the crap out of this book.
I am not one of those people. I want realistic scenarios with realistic probable solutions. I want meat. I need information to help and to guide. I did not find any of that in this book and it makes me a little angry.

[Ashley Hamm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a therapist and this book has been essential in understanding my neurodivergent clients and people in my life. As a therapist, I was taught a lot of false information about neurodivergence through the lens of the medical model - and I’m really finding the affirming perspective in Dr. Price’s book so helpful in supporting my clients in embracing a more authentic life. I think therapists need to read more books like these and start to unlearn the harms the mental health community has perpetuated towards people who don’t fit the neurotypical mold.

[Ikrame Ettayaa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted more of a psyhological take on Autism and this is more of a societal take of it !! so It might be my mistake for picking the wrong one here
It's also so repetitive! and there's a lot of speculation and hearsay "I talked to an autistic this, I heard from an autistic that" instead of Statistically or science based evidences ! I was cool with it at first but when it's a whole "PHD" is based on talking to a "a few" cases It got annoying.
Also I was not a fan of the Us vs. them narrative they were trying to push here

[Sortal · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're a mild-mannered autistic person, who just wants to get on with life without making a fuss, this probably is not the book for you. This often reads like a manifesto of Autistic pride, which goes beyond advocacy to calls for activism. I wish there were more room in this book for a nuanced approach and acknowledgement that not every autistic wants to live out loud. Gender issues come a very close second to autism on this book's agenda, closely followed by issues of race and class and a critique of society at large.

[Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars!
overall this book is incredibly well-put-together. it seamlessly blends academic knowledge with personal experiences and interviews, and has a really strong voice that’s readable and informative while not being “too” academic.

I wish I’d had this to read five years ago, I think I would’ve gotten more out of it. however, I would especially recommend it to anyone that’s new to realizing they’re autistic and to anyone who has a masking autistic loved one, or anyone who wants to learn more about masking and/or autism as a whole!

I do have some minor critiques:
- I wish the author had engaged more with disability justice as a framework/movement. it’s pretty clear that DJ is not the /basis/ of Dr. Price’s understanding of disability or autism, but it definitely feels as if the book aligns with DJ in a LOT of ways, and I feel like it deserves more than a couple passing mentions!! I feel similarly about other more radical ideas, like abolition — it was mentioned, but I wish more time had been afforded to it, and I think this book could’ve been a good venue to get more people interested in DJ and abolition, and I wish they’d taken advantage of that!
- I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way the medical and social models of disability were presented, the explanation felt a bit overgeneralized to me and I didn’t feel like the medical model was described or critiqued entirely accurately.
- I also would’ve liked more high-support-needs voices to have been interviewed/included. I understand that the book focuses on autistic people who mask which is often those with lower support needs, but especially as Dr. Price emphasizes that unmasking can be a political goal that furthers acceptance of all autistic people, not just those who mask, I think it would’ve benefited the book overall to invite more people with high support needs into the discussion.

All that said, keeping in mind I’m a relatively critical reader especially when it comes to things I care a lot about, this book is really great as a whole!! I feel like I came out of it with a little more knowledge of myself, even though I’ve known I’m autistic for years and feel relatively knowledgeable about autism and autistic communities as a whole. I hope others get something valuable out of it, too.

[Michelle Vaughn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The subtitle of this book "Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity" is misleading. This book isn't about unmasking figuratively (as the subtitle seems to indicate), but literally. This is a book not about Autism as a whole, but the concept of masking and, specifically, how it is detrimental. Devon Price cites statistics about substance abuse, depression/anxiety, eating disorders, and forms of self-harm amongst autistic people. The latter half of the book is part self-help, part political manifesto. The author writes in his conclusion to Unmasking Autism that being masked is "a painful state of self-loathing and denial that warps your inner experience."

Here's the thing: I actually totally disagree with Price's thesis.

I really like my mask. I feel served by my mask, not damaged by it--it is a thing of my own creation, hard won, and I wield it like a shield. Perhaps this is just a case of the author's personal bias not matching my own, and I wouldn't fault him for that except that he is so insistent on the pronoun "we". He's attempting to speak for all autistic people, and I can't be the only person whose feathers are ruffled by this. I also, truly, hate this idea he presents in his last chapters that because I am autistic, I must therefore be an advocate not just for myself, not just for other neurodiverse people, but for all disabled people everywhere--like, my disability obligates me to be an activist. No, thank you.