tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7148285018304147332.post6821886510608193241..comments2023-10-21T05:45:30.305-05:00Comments on Lushia's Neurodivergent Life: THE MASK OF NORMALITY - Hiding My True Self (An Asperger's Conundrum)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7148285018304147332.post-62439755852608747292016-04-26T10:02:35.018-05:002016-04-26T10:02:35.018-05:00I'm really pleased to have discovered this blo...I'm really pleased to have discovered this blog. It really chimes with my experience and is very well expressed. I do wonder though about the words 'mask' and 'masking' (though I know they're commonly used in this context), because they seem to imply dishonesty. That thing I've been doing since childhood isn't remotely designed to deceive anyone into thinking I'm something I'm not; I didn't even know I was doing anything unusual. I've heard it called 'compensating', but I think the best phrases to describe it are probably 'trying to fit in', 'trying to be a good person' or even 'trying to be normal'. What I absolutely recognise is that in contrast to regular people, this 'trying' I do sometimes just snaps off completely without warning (at least to others, but even I'm usually surprised), so I seem to go straight from 'coping' to very much not. It's alarming and depressing to think that it's the meltdown version of me that's the real one, and the rest of it is just a 'mask', and I don't really think that's the right way to think of it. The real me is both the vulnerable autistic part of me and all the properly impressive stuff I do every day, often without thinking, just trying to be brave and good.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16674582541692253668noreply@blogger.com