Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Our Hidden Neurodiversity

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This is an incredible book and resource. I can't recommend this enough to anyone on their self discovery journey with Autism enough, but especially to Trans folks, BIPOC, and women, this book focuses on these groups in examples and stories and does a great job of explaining how these groups have historically been left out of Autism research and diagnosis until more recently and highlights ways Autism presents for them. Reading this felt like being at home - I didn't realise how much I masked. What an incredible book that I know will be re-read many times over.' - Dr Camilla Pang, author of Explaining Humans Devon spends the first few chapters emphasizing how straight white males have been overly favored in research, diagnosis, and aid. Which is probably true. But the degree to which this is emphasized felt a little brow-beating after a while. 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. 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.

Taking Off the Mask: Practical Exercises to Help Understand

I'd like the interspersal of some additional autistic POVs beyond the author and like to the variety in the chapters. I especially got a lot out of the chapter discussing comparisons and differences between ADHD and autism. One of my biggest takeaways and most memorable moments while listening to this book was just kind of the acceptance that even if I could never figure out if I truly am autistic or if I am just a spicy ADHD with anxiety, it doesn't matter that much. Like for me I'm a label person and it does matter but it also doesn't negate my experiences and the ADHD community and autistic community have so much in common and there's so many similarities that it's better for people to just kind of combine forces and support everyone and each other instead of trying to pinpoint exactly which trait is from ADHD and which trait is autistic.However, as a late diagnosed (43), straight white male, this book felt like it was definitely NOT written for me. Nor does it seem to want to include someone like me in the overall representation. 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.

Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Our Hidden Unmasking Autism: The Power of Embracing Our Hidden

This is such an important piece of work regardless if you know someone who's autistic. It helped me to not only understand the areas in which our ablest society denies disabled people the opportunities to be able to fully participate in society, but shames them for not conforming to our socially constructed "neurotypical" world.Ob man nun Autist, ADHSler oder einfach neurodovergent ist - man lernt sich selbst nochmal neu kennen, fühlt sich verstanden und bringt mehr Verständnis für die eigenen Eigenheiten auf. So zumindest in meinem Fall! 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 chapte

Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity

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." Reading "Unmasking Autism" was a watershed moment that helped me full-throatedly self-diagnose: I'm autistic! This book has been an essential tool on my unmasking journey; I've re-read my copy at least three times, and I refer to it for comfort on challenging days of unmasking and autistic trauma processing. I also appreciate Dr. Price's healthy distrust of psychiatry and the tone of mental health liberation throughout the book; the real experts on autism are autistic people. Communicate as clearly as possible and avoid turns of phrase. Metaphors or indirect expressions can be hard to understand for people with autism.Devon Price is a social psychologist and the author of Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity. 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. 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. 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. 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.