“Putting on My Best Normal”: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions

What masking is for, how it's done, and what it costs, in the words of 92 autistic adults.

Hull, L. et al. (2017). “Putting on My Best Normal”: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(8), 2519–2534.

Type

Journal article

Find it

doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5

Checked

Against the abstract, 15 September 2026

Why it is on the list

Hull and colleagues built a three-stage model from autistic adults’ accounts: people mask to fit in and to connect, they do it through a mix of masking and compensating techniques, and it costs them exhaustion and threats to how they see themselves. Week 6 uses those questions about purpose, action and consequence in its own ledger. Its five columns add context and pressure and use estimated recovery hours for planning; that format is the course’s, not the paper’s instrument.