As professionals, we often wear masks. We might be masking emotional or physical pain during home visits, we might be masking self-doubt while chairing a meeting, or we might be masking our anxiety about travelling to a new home. However, neurodivergent colleagues and clients might be masking for a deeper and more harmful reason.
Societal norms are often based on neuro-normative or neuro-typical ways of thinking and being. If a person diverts from that norm, they can face persecution (excluded from a group or held as an example of deficit).
Persecution could be in the form of people being explicitly put down for being their authentic and different selves; micro-aggressions around difference; or non-direct (but still impactful) dog whistles we hear in the media and within work or social groups.
Because of a general intolerance for difference within society, neurodivergent people can experience persecution for being neurologically different. This persecution, and the trauma resulting from it, can lead us to change our behaviour, and suppress our identity in order to ‘fit in’ or ‘fly under the radar’ (Wiley, 2014). For neurodivergent people, this is known as masking or camouflaging.
Masking can include unconscious and conscious adaptions to our behaviours. Such as mimicking facial expressions, holding our hands in a certain way, deliberately forcing or faking eye contact, suppressing the need for movement, underplaying our interests or staying in a sensory overwhelming environment (Hull et al, 2017).
If you consider that it is estimated that children with ADHD receive a full 20,000 more negative messages by age 10 – it is unsurprising that neurodivergent individuals have felt the need to develop a strategy like masking for self-preservation and social belonging (Jellinek, 2018; Frye, 2020 reF).
Camouflaging and masking enable us to survive and navigate a neurotypical world where there is little room for or acceptance of difference. It enables us to avoid stigmatising interactions with people which are fuelled by misconceptions about neurodivergence. However, masking is exhausting because of self-monitoring and mimicry, and it can cause a loose and sometimes inauthentic sense of belonging. Moreover, as social workers, we know not being your authentic self can damage your mental health (Miller et al, 2021ref).
So, why might neurodivergent people feel they need to mask at work?
In addition to the examples given above, social workers might mask at work because some neurotypical individuals do not understand how neurodivergent people think or experience the work. People additionally rely on stereotypes and ‘the external presentation of associated traits (i.e. lack of eye contact) as opposed to an understanding of the internal experiences of neurodivergent people (i.e. what it feels like to be autistic)’ (Milton, 2017; Hull et al, 2020). Therefore we might have been ‘scolded for acting out or not paying attention’ in childhood or within the workplace, being late on assignments at university, or having moments of emotional dysregulation (Nelson, 2023)
Ari Tuckman, PsyD, psychologist and ADHD expert states that “If you are neurodivergent, it is easy for others to misinterpret your behaviour”. For example, someone with ADHD who is forgetful may be seen as less intelligent and as a result begin to employ strategies to mask their ADHD and appear in line with the ‘norm’. For me, masking was something that happened subconsciously in response to feelings of shame. I would feel shame for being different when people called out how I presented – ‘you’re too much’, ‘ you talk too much about [insert any of my many special interests here]’, ‘why can’t you just be more normal’. These dog whistles forced me to change how I was – to mask – just to ‘fit in’.
However, masking can have a significantly negative impact on our mental health (Miller, 2021), self-esteem and general well-being. One key reason for this is the physical energy we spend with ‘constant self-monitoring and mimicry’ (Miller, 2021) – we become exhausted and can sometimes not feel present. Our self-esteem can be negatively impacted as we feel disconnected from our true selves and unable to be our authentic selves (Miller, 2021)
And finally, because ‘masking is associated with avoiding stigma, it can exacerbate feelings of shame surrounding a diagnosis’ (Miller, 2021).
When I disclosed my diagnosis of Dyslexia and Dyspraxia to a teacher in secondary school they asked me ‘What’s the point if you can’t think or do?’ – the feeling of shame hit me like a wave. I didn’t verbally disclose my diagnosis to anyone for another 5 years because of the stigma and shame.
Moreover, as a woman it is thought that we mask more than men (Lai et al, 2017) Research has suggested that this is because of ‘the greater social expectations placed on women, which force them to get good at camouflaging from an early age’ (Solobdin & Davidovich, 2019). For example, I would internalise my emotional dysregulation because I was told it was not ‘ladylike’.
When we think about the number of females in social worker, it is important to consider the impact of masking or the impact of stigma/shame in preventing us from disclosing. As there may be many social workers who are not seeking support because of the dog whistles of the past and present, because we feel we need to mask to avoid stereotypes or prevent discrimination, and there may be many social workers who do not know they are masking at all.
However, the profession can support neurodivergent social workers to take the mask off. But this will take work and effort. This will need to involve active allyship and change within team cultures and practices. It will take active allyship and inclusive leadership.
To support neuro-inclusion and to create a workplace environment where neurodivergent social workers don’t feel like they need to mask you need to create psychological safety.
I have previously advised social worker leaders on how to create a culture and environment which embeds inclusion and psychological safety – which you can find here.
But for now, here is a summary.
What is psychological safety?
The overarching theme of psychological safety is belonging. Psychological safety is the belief and feeling that we will not be shamed, embarrassed, punish or humiliated for being our full authentic selves or for speaking up with thoughts, reflections, ideas, questions, or mistakes.
How to build the foundations for a psychologically safe work environment
Achieve the 4 stages of psychological safety:
Stage 1- Inclusion Safety
Stage 2 – Learner Safety
Stage 3- Contributor Safety
Stage 4 – Challenger Safety
You can achieve these stages by:
1. Recognising strengths
2. Not minamising challenges
3. Thinking about the everyday language we use
4. Being curious and seeking to understand
5. Creating visibility and ensuring representation
6. Being mindful of our lived experiences
7. Opening doors instead of closing them.
Reference list:
Frye, D. (2020) Children with ADHD avoid failure and punishment more than others, study says, ADDitude. Available at: https://www.additudemag.com/children-with-adhd-avoid-failure-punishment/ (Accessed: 04 June 2023).
Hull L, Petrides K V., Allison C, et al. (2017). “Putting on My Best Normal”: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions. J Autism Dev Disord; 47:2519-2534. doi:10.1007/s10803-017-3166-5
Hull L, Petrides K V., Mandy W. (2020). The Female Autism Phenotype and Camouflaging: a Narrative Review. Rev J Autism Dev Disord. Published online Jan 29th 2020. doi:10.1007/s40489-020-00197-9
Jellinek, M. (2018) Don’t let ADHD crush children’s self-esteem, MDedge Psychiatry. Available at: https://www.mdedge.com/psychiatry/article/23971/pediatrics/dont-let-adhd-crush-childrens-self-esteem (Accessed: 04 June 2023).
Lai MC, Lombardo MV, Ruigrok AN, et al.( 2017). Quantifying and exploring camouflaging in men and women with autism. Autism.21(6):690-702.
Miller D, Rees J, Pearson A.(2021). “Masking is life”: experiences of masking in autistic and nonautistic adults. Autism Adulthood;3(4):330-338.
Milton D. A. (2017). Mismatch of Salience: Explorations of the Nature of Autism from Theory to Practice. Pavilion Press. https://www.pavpub.com/a-mismatch-of-salience/
Nelson, K. (2023) Masking at work for neurodivergent people, Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/neurodivergence-at-work-to-mask-or-not-to-mask-7108000 (Accessed: 04 June 2023).
Slobodin O, Davidovitch M.(2019). Gender differences in objective and subjective measures of adhd among clinic-referred children. Front Hum Neurosci.;13.
Willey LH. (2014). Pretending to Be Normal: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome (Autism Spectrum Disorder) Expanded Edition. London. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
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