Autistic Masking Quotes

“Instead of looking at accommodations as a barrier, an inconvenience, see those shifts and changes as getting one step closer to all the compromises being made every minute of the day by a person with autism.”
― Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, Serving Teens and Adults on the Autism Spectrum: A Guide for Libraries

“I realize that's how it sometimes feels to be me.
As if I have to hide who I am, all of the time.
As if I have to pretend to be like everyone else, just so people will love me.
As if I'm constantly being asked to share, to reveal myself, to open up, and when I do--when I finally show people who I truly am--it's not what anyone wanted and they explode right in front of me.
I am so fucking done with making myself smaller.”
― Holly Smale, Cassandra in Reverse

“When you were born with a cloudy understanding of why certain rules existed, you soon moved from confusion and questioning to the sad realization that you would lose all of your neurotypical connections if you did not automatically obey.”
― Elle McNicoll, Some Like It Cold

“Being told that the world would consider her imperfect had been enough to make her a servant to the art of seeming perfect.”
― Elle McNicoll, Some Like It Cold

“Frankness was dangerous for any girl, let alone an autistic girl. People could close ranks very quickly over the smallest infraction.”
― Elle McNicoll, Some Like It Cold

“Being an autistic young woman came with so many sacrifices to the altar of "normal," just to purchase some peace.”
― Elle McNicoll, Some Like It Cold

“She had worn the golden girl mask for so long and sometimes it was too frightening to imagine removing it. It splintered her face, it made her eyes tired, it dulled the taste of life, but it was easier to be accepted as a watered-down version of yourself than rejected for who you really were.”
― Elle McNicoll, Some Like It Cold