#low masking

[only-knives]

im watching a youtube channel i love (Im Autistic, Now What?) about signs of dyspraxia in high masking autistic people

and one of the signs she shared was not being able to drive. and i cant drive. i cant. i cant even use one of those motorized shopping carts. each time i've tried i've had meltdowns/anxiety attacks because i can't feel where i am in space. but for some reason i was great at riding my bike and roller blading. i loved the way it felt sensory wise.

anyway um. in the video she says it's okay to be an adult and not be able to drive; it doesn't make you less of an adult. which is absolutely true and very comforting to hear.

but then she said you need to make sure not to isolate yourself or put yourself in a position where you're alone or dependent on someone else to go anywhere

and that. is the situation i am in. i can't control it. there is no reliable, affordable, accessible transportation for me. anywhere i go on my own has to be done on foot. and i also struggle immensely going places on my own. it is a very overwhelming and confusing experiencing if i am going somewhere i have never been before.

i didn't do this to myself. i didn't choose to become severely disabled and need a wheelchair. i didn't choose to be unable to drive. i didn't choose to be without friends.

i understand the sentiment behind it is not wanting someone to be alone and isolated, but it completely misses the point.

not being able to drive is a real barrier to participation in society for disabled people. it's a barrier even for abled people who don't have a car or can't afford to learn.

that's not our responsibility. that would be a time to bring awareness to structural inaccessibility and advocate for more support for accessible, affordable, and effective public transportation. for everyone.

[celsius451]

I'm tired of being the one with the disease who needs to work on myself for others while they don't have to do a damn thing to bridge their end of the gap. It's a radical expectation, asking me to change and rid the inner-workings of my brain for them. It's such an audacious request, yet they don't even see it because in the end, I'm the one who isn't normal, and I will always be the one who isn't normal to them

[zebulontheplanet]

When I talk about visible autism on my blog, I’m usually not talking about those who are clocked as quirky and weird. Although that’s completely valid, I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about those of us who are VISIBLY autistic. Those of us who are clocked as those autistics. Who are clocked immediately as having something wrong with them. Those of us who are named as slurs. Who are yelled at. Who are attacked. Who are glared at, pointed at, stared at, pitied. Those of us who are automatically assumed to be with caregivers. Those of us you see talked about in medical journals and on the news as “inspiration” when we graduate or get invited to prom.

This is us. This is who we’re marked as. This is who we are seen as. We are seen as less than, as animals, as objects, as “inspirations”. When we accomplish something it’s usually not seen as our accomplishments but as the accomplishments of our caregivers and support staff.

I get so mad when someone comes onto my blog, MY blog. Me. A visibly autistic, nonverbal person, and doesn’t even look at my tags or pinned post and says “Omg me too, I’m seen as quirky and awkward, I’m visibly autistic 🥰” and like…go you but I’m not talking about you. I’m not talking about “low masking”. Im talking about LOW masking. No masking or very very low masking. Those of us who are immediately seen as autistic.

And it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating when people come into my blog and say this because, you DON’T get it. You just don’t. You don’t get what my life is like, what my experiences are. What it’s like to be LOW masking or no masking. You don’t get that. And yet you try and squeeze yourself in. And that hurts. It hurts to have people who won’t ever understand this squeeze themselves in. Stop doing this.

[augmentedpolls]

Autistic people, are you genuinely treated better when you’re open about your autism or not?

high masking, I’m generally treated better when I’m open about it

high masking, I’m treated equally well regardless

high masking, I’m treated better when I’m NOT open about it

low/non masking, I’m treated better when I’m open about it

low/non masking, I’m treated equally well regardless

low/non masking, I’m treated better when I’m NOT open about it

I’ve only ever been openly autistic or I’ve never been openly autistic

Allistic/results

Voting ended onDec 18, 2025

[chronicallyleggless]

More autism-related userboxes! [pack]

[bigloonafan]

life when you're an autist who cannot mask just consists of getting treated like a child by allistics and getting berated by higher masking autists who think they're better than you

[skeptisystem]

*As a verbal autistic person i feel like this is an important point, however I don't want to speak for or over anyone. I want to try to articulate what i understand based on my experiences and conversations with my semi verbal siblings and interactions with people online.

We need to stop treating nonspeaking/semi/nonverbal autistic people like they're small children or don't have complex thoughts or feelings! I often struggle to put my thoughts into words because they are TOO complex for my verbal skills, do you guys not consider that some less verbal autistics probably have a hard time communicating their thoughts BECAUSE they are more developed than their verbal language? AND THATS OKAY!! Give them time and listen to the things that they actually do say. Some of them probably also think in simpler concepts as well, WHICH IS ALSO OKAY. This is all to say, stop treating autistic people like objects, we have feelings, we are real people.

AUTISTIC PEOPLE HAVE FEELINGS NO MATTER HOW EFFECTIVELY THEY CAN COMMUNICATE THEM!

[adhbabey]

Idk who needs to hear this but being high masking and high support needs is not mutually exclusive.

Im high masking but I still need a lot of support for those around me. Sure, I don't need help eating or using the bathroom, but I need help living and cooking and I can't drive. I need to rely on others to live, but I'm still high masking.

And there's plenty of people who are low masking and low support. They can deal with things more independently, but they can't hide their autism.

Can we start acknowledging this. It doesn't mean the same thing. High masking does not mean you're low support. And I wish someone told me this sooner.