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Unmasking is often described as a personal journey toward authenticity, but the ability to unmask is shaped by factors like race, class, gender, citizenship, trauma, and access to support. In this post, I share my experience alongside a friend’s perspective, offered with her full consent and review. Together, our stories highlight how intersectionality shapes the risks of being seen and why honoring these truths creates more space for those who are often unheard or still masking.

A clear and compassionate introduction to autistic masking that explains what it is, why it becomes automatic, and how it can shape daily life. This guide helps you recognize common masking behaviors, understand the pressures that create them, and assess whether masking is supporting your well-being or slowly draining your energy. Includes reflections, examples, and questions to help you explore your own patterns with clarity and care.

If you’ve recently discovered you’re autistic, ADHD, or otherwise neurodivergent, you may be looking for a safe, nonjudgmental place to explore what that means. SAFE Unmasking™ offers a framework to help you understand your identity, unmask at your own pace, and protect your well-being. It provides practical tools for boundaries, communication, and authentic living, and is designed to meet you wherever you are.

Supporting a late-identified neurodivergent adult can feel confusing, and I’ve experienced that uncertainty from both sides as a late-identified autistic person and longtime advocate. If you’re unsure how to be an ally or want relationships that feel more authentic and connected, this guide can help. I share practical mindset shifts that make it easier to show up with curiosity and care while also honoring your own needs, limits, and emotional capacity.

If you’ve just discovered you’re autistic or finally received a diagnosis after years of wondering, you may find yourself reinterpreting your whole life. This five-part series, A Mask They Put On, explores growing up with generational trauma as an undiagnosed autistic child with ADHD and the journey of reclaiming self-understanding. Through my own late-diagnosed perspective, I share childhood stories as signs of resilience and brilliance, not pathology, honoring the younger selves who adapted in a world that offered little space for us.

If you’ve recently discovered you’re neurodivergent and aren’t sure what comes next, you’re not alone. Many people want a structured, supportive way to explore their identity, build confidence, and turn self-understanding into meaningful action in daily life. If that resonates, the Acceptance and Commitment framework can offer guidance through journaling, reflection, therapy, counseling, coaching, or group work.