I have my own opinion on masking. I don't feel like I hide my true self and I feel the term 'masking' isn't always the right one, although it might depend on the individual and the situation. The way I see it, it's all a question of communication, or language; we have our own concept of social communication, one that is not always the same as most people. It gets hard to understand those different than us and also difficult for them to understand us. We can't expect everyone to understand us, and most people don't, or won't. So we change the way we communicate, use another form of language. It's not always easy and we might sometimes miss the mark, but we are autistic, after all. We can't understand what we aren't all the time, it's just normal. With most people I know, we often find some kind of unspoken middle ground, so to speak, communication-wise. They know me and I know them, we kinda found ways to make it easier for us to understand each other. YMMV, it's not the same for everyone and I know that; some of us find it harder still to understand non-autistic people and communicate with them, and have a hard time being understood by them. Some of us feel the need to hide and 'fake' our way through many social situations. In the end, it's all about how comfortable we are with acting natural. For me, I find it simpler to adapt the way I communicate than expecting people to understand me. There's more of 'them' than there are of us, in the end we have much more opportunities to study their 'language' and adapt to it, than the opposite. To me, it's the same as traveling to another country without speaking the local language. You can get by, if you're lucky, but it will be much harder than if you learn the language. There are some words that will give you a harder time, and you'll fall back to your native tongue, but they can't blame you for making an effort.
Again, YMMV, as everyone has different experiences; it's just the way I see things.
I have my own opinion on masking. I don't feel like I hide my true self and I feel the term 'masking' isn't always the right one, although it might depend on the individual and the situation. The way I see it, it's all a question of communication, or language; we have our own concept of social communication, one that is not always the same as most people. It gets hard to understand those different than us and also difficult for them to understand us. We can't expect everyone to understand us, and most people don't, or won't. So we change the way we communicate, use another form of language. It's not always easy and we might sometimes miss the mark, but we are autistic, after all. We can't understand what we aren't all the time, it's just normal. With most people I know, we often find some kind of unspoken middle ground, so to speak, communication-wise. They know me and I know them, we kinda found ways to make it easier for us to understand each other. YMMV, it's not the same for everyone and I know that; some of us find it harder still to understand non-autistic people and communicate with them, and have a hard time being understood by them. Some of us feel the need to hide and 'fake' our way through many social situations. In the end, it's all about how comfortable we are with acting natural. For me, I find it simpler to adapt the way I communicate than expecting people to understand me. There's more of 'them' than there are of us, in the end we have much more opportunities to study their 'language' and adapt to it, than the opposite. To me, it's the same as traveling to another country without speaking the local language. You can get by, if you're lucky, but it will be much harder than if you learn the language. There are some words that will give you a harder time, and you'll fall back to your native tongue, but they can't blame you for making an effort.
Again, YMMV, as everyone has different experiences; it's just the way I see things.