Abstract
Camouflaging is a social phenomenon operating within everyday social interactions of autistic and non-autistic people. The current study explored autistic adults’ camouflaging in an everyday social context via interpersonal process recall methodology (Kegan, 1969). A total of 17 autistic adults (8 females, 6 males and 3 agender/gender-neutral individuals) participated in a 10-min controlled social task designed to replicate a common day-to-day social situation. Participants then watched a video of their interaction with a researcher, actively identifying instances of camouflaging and discussing their experiences of camouflaging. Using thematic analysis, four themes were generated: (1) a strong desire for, yet uncertainty in, securing social acceptance and connection; (2) camouflaging, developed over time, as a means to achieve social acceptance and connection; (3) experiencing intrapersonal and interpersonal camouflaging consequences during social interactions; and (4) authentic socialising as an alternative to camouflaging. These findings are discussed with reference to the existing literature on stigma management outside the field of autism.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1444–1456 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Autism |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 19 Feb 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: Julia Cook is funded by a doctoral scholarship from the University College of London.
Keywords
- adults
- autism spectrum disorders
- qualitative research
- social cognition
- social behaviour