Unmasking is something I am coming to terms with, but having an environment within which I can feel safe and be myself helps significantly with that. As things stand, it’s a lifetime of damage that needs reversing.
Category: masking
It’s not okay to dismiss one autistic person’s lived experience as having nothing to do with “real” autism simply because you don’t understand what autism is like for them.
Full normalisation of autism would require a substantially broader concept of ‘normality.’ It would mean acceptance of autistic people who are non-speaking, an understanding of meltdowns, and general awareness of the dangers of sensory overload.