So, last night I watched a great video chat between Kate from the I Am My Own Experience blog and Kieran from The Autistic Advocate blog, about autism, masking and burnout. So I wanted to explore some thoughts around the #TakeTheMaskOff campaign.

I think most autistic people would agree that the ability to ‘mask’ their autistic traits seems to be a pre-requisite to being able to navigate the neurotypical world. Without downplaying those aspects of ourselves that society is uncomfortable with, criticism, rejection, and isolation likely follows. To avoid exclusion, autistic folk tend to ‘perform’ neurotypical behaviour – the energy required to do this generally leads to burnout,  meltdown, and a variety of mental health challenges sooner or later. Given the choice between isolation, or meltdown, it’s little wonder that autistic folk need a third option – that is why #TakeTheMaskOff is so important.

This campaign is about making a…