AuDHD & camouflaging

Much of the research regarding social camouflaging stems from autistic voices, leading researchers to assume that autistics camouflage more than the general population. However, many ADHD-ers also report using camouflaging strategies such as masking and compensatory strategies.

In this article, we’ll discuss how autistic and ADHD camouflaging are similar/different, as well as whether AuDHD-ers camouflage more frequently than people of just one identity.

Refresher: What is camouflaging?

Camouflaging is an evolutionary tool that we (humans) use to adapt to our environment. It provides us the ability to fit in with others and avoid ostracization by hiding the parts of ourselves that stand out. Socially, this may look like changing our behaviour or vocal tone when we’re working versus when we’re with friends.

For more information on autistic camouflaging and the consequences of doing it often, check out Eva’s article on autism and camouflaging:

Autism & camouflaging

While camouflaging may also be common for neurotypicals in getting desired effects from social interactions, many autistic people feel camouflaging their autistic characteristics is necessary to gain more high-stakes rewards, like getting qualifications and keeping stable employment.^[1]“Putting on My Best Normal”: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions (Hull et al., 2017) Consequently, this can also have damaging physical and emotional effects. By constantly hiding parts of ourselves we feel are integral to our identity, we might quickly experience burnout as well as more negative feelings about ourselves which can be damaging to our sense of self.^[2]What are ‘masking’ and ‘camouflaging’ in the context of autism and ADHD? | The Conversation (Radulski, 2023)

Autism researchers have taken charge of the study into camouflaging and have created the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). In this measure, researchers have outlined 3 main subtypes of camouflaging that people most commonly report experiencing: masking, compensation, and assimilation. For more information on the CAT-Q and to try it out yourself, check out the following article and its accompanying psychometric:

The CAT-Q

Masking

To start, masking refers to ways we try to hide or cover up our autistic characteristics in social interaction, whether consciously or not. For example, sometimes to avoid having a meltdown in inconvenient and potentially unsafe places like my workplace, I force myself to go into “hyper-calm” mode where I appear to be calm on the outside but on the inside, I am totally spaced out of reality and just trying to regulate my emotions to a workable level of intensity.

Throughout this article, I may refer to the general practice of camouflaging as masking in addition to camouflaging, as it is the most common subtype studied and reported in autistic research and many articles use the terms interchangeably when referring to ADHD camouflaging.

Compensation

Similarly, compensation refers to ways we try to “cover up” any social difficulties we might have. For example, meeting new people can be uncomfortable and nerve-wracking for many autistic people.

I personally extremely dislike introducing myself to people because I never know what to say or how much is acceptable to share about myself; so I like to prepare 2 questions and answers that give room for others to speak passionately. Questions like, “What have you watched or read recently that caught your interest?” and “What do you get up to in your spare time?” help me find common points of interest with people and also let me listen to the speaker more than having to talk. This is one way we compensate for not knowing how to engage in conversation with new people.

Other neurodivergent people like ADHDers may also experience compensating for their difficulties with time-blindness by keeping multiple analog and electronic reminders for things or keeping a rigid and consistent schedule to avoid impulsive behaviours.

Assimilation

Finally, the assimilation subtype refers to the act of trying to be “similar to” or physically perceived as part of the desired group by doing similar things. In the case of autistics, we might try to fit in with non-autistics by taking part in group social activities (like going to a workplace party).

I personally understand camouflaging, particularly the assimilation subtype to be a form of code-switching. Code-switching is most commonly used to refer to when racialized groups change their language/appearance/mannerisms to fit in with a specific, usually dominant culture. Code-switching is usually performed by members of marginalized groups (i.e., racialized, LGBTQ2S+ groups) when there is a threat of violence or ostracization from the dominant group.^[3]What is code-switching? | Health.com (Washington-Harmon, 2024)

Likewise, many autistics camouflage because we fear being bullied or left out because of our autism.^[4]“Putting on My Best Normal”: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions (Hull et al., 2017) I think autistic people of colour are especially familiar with navigating spaces that are hostile to us, which may contribute to us camouflaging more frequently than white autistics—and potentially adding to our underdiagnosis of autism.

One major difference that stands out to me between marginalized groups that code-switch and autistics who camouflage is that autistic people are around non-autistics all the time. Many autistics find it hard to “take the mask off” or “switch back” to their authentic selves when we’re so used to concealing parts of our identity.^[5]“Masking Is Life”: Experiences of Masking in Autistic and Nonautistic Adults (Miller, Rees, & Pearson, 2021) This is particularly relevant in my life, where it’s been a challenge to understand which parts of me are real and which are the roles I’ve put on to get by. No wonder many autistics also suffer from anxiety and depression while constant masking and assimilation take their toll on our minds and self-identity. ^[6]Is social camouflaging associated with anxiety and depression in autistic adults? (Hull et al., 2021)

I don’t think it’s absolutely essential to understand these different subtypes; rather, it’s important to recognize when camouflaging can be helpful versus harmful to ourselves. Because of how common this practice is, it makes sense that other neurodivergent people would have their own experiences with camouflaging too. Let’s talk about ADHD masking in particular, as well as its similarities and differences to autistic masking.

ADHD vs. autism camouflaging—is there a difference?

There is a general lack of research into ADHD masking compared to autistic masking. While there are obviously essential differences between these experiences, there are also many similarities in how and when autistics and ADHD camouflage, including by suppressing our stimming in environments deemed ‘unsafe’ as well as masking outbursts of emotion.

As we know, the cognitions behind our similar behaviours are what generally differentiates these two communities. In the same way, the similarities in camouflaging experiences could also contribute to the general underdiagnosing of AuDHD in both communities. To illustrate this, I will examine a recently published research study comparing the camouflaging experiences of ADHD-ers and autistics.

Early this year, a Dutch research study was published on how frequently ADHD-ers reported camouflaging compared to autistics and people without either diagnosis.^[7]Is camouflaging unique for autism? A comparison of camouflaging between adults with autism and ADHD (van der Putten et al., 2023) With the help of 105 similarly-aged adult participants in each group, they found that ADHD-ers reported statistically more camouflaging than non-ADHD and non-autistic people. This gave more evidence to the fact that neurodivergent people share similar experiences of concealing identity. I attribute this result to the stigma surrounding neurodivergence and the experience of having our behaviours deemed “inappropriate.”

This study was also the first known study to compare ADHD and autistic camouflaging. Part 2 of this study looked at whether autistic or ADHD traits made it more likely to experience camouflaging. What they found was that when comparing the ADHD and autistic groups, autistics were more likely to use compensatory and assimilation strategies than ADHD-ers.

What was particularly interesting to me was that both groups (ADHD and autistic) reported similar amounts of masking. Additionally, autistic traits (not necessarily diagnoses) were significantly related to experiencing compensation and assimilation in both autistics and ADHD-ers, while ADHD traits were significantly related to experiencing assimilation in only autistics.

What are some potential reasons for these results?

a. ADHD camouflaging behaviour is different from autistic camouflaging behaviour

The researchers noted an important limitation of the study, which is that the CAT-Q was created to specifically study autistic people and their experiences. Thus, the questions being asked in this study do not have other neurodivergent experiences in mind and may be less sensitive to experiences outside what’s known in autism research. This is why they were correct in hypothesizing that autistics would score higher in camouflaging scores than all other groups.

For example, adult-diagnosed ADHD-havers might have had experiences in childhood such as strong family support that supported or “compensated” more for their ADHD-related difficulties in childhood, creating a more adaptive environment to their strengths. This would also make their ADHD characteristics less detectable for a diagnosis until later in life. As such, more research into ADHD-specific experiences of camouflaging would help to create a more inclusive measure for neurodivergent people. ^[8]Symptoms in individuals with adult-onset ADHD are masked during childhood (Kosaka et al., 2018)

b. People of various neurodivergent identities share similar experiences based on stigma

One commonly reported reason for some autistic people to camouflage is that they are concerned about negative reactions to their autistic identity. They reported trying to mitigate their concerns about how they are viewed by others by camouflaging, or creating a more desirable image of themselves, to show neurotypicals that they are able to fit in with others.^[9]Understanding the Reasons, Contexts, and Costs of Camouflaging for Autistic Adults (Cage and Troxell-Whitman, 2019)

In this way, I think one reason why autistics and ADHD-havers shared similar levels of masking is because both groups have experienced negative (and sometimes violent) reactions to disclosing their identity, which can lead to internalizing shame and perpetuating the stigma around neurodivergent people. It makes sense that we would want to avoid those interactions by creating a more “desirable” (read: neurotypical) image in order to move freely in social spaces. These researchers also posit that similar experiences of stigma could explain why ADHD traits scored high in assimilation.^[10]Is camouflaging unique for autism? A comparison of camouflaging between adults with autism and ADHD (van der Putten et al., 2023)

c. Having both ADHD and autistic traits could add to increased camouflaging

I think the results of this study show that both autistics and ADHD-ers camouflage significantly more than people not of these groups. To achieve this result, the researchers had to exclude people likely to have AuDHD. However, when looking at autistic-reported and ADHD-reported characteristics, they included participants with AuDHD and found that within the assimilation subtype, autistic traits better explained ADHD-er’s assimilating behaviour than ADHD traits did, which supports previous research that higher levels of autistic traits are positively associated with camouflaging behaviour.^[11]Do All of Us Camouflage? Exploring Levels of Camouflaging and Mental Health Well-being in the General Population (Lorenz & Hull, 2024) They also found the opposite true – that ADHD traits better explained autistic people’s assimilating behaviour compared to autistic traits.This all means that having autistic traits, regardless of diagnosis or ADHD traits, is what is most related to engaging in camouflaging behaviour.

While ADHD traits did not influence people’s camouflaging behaviour in other parts of the study, I believe it shows that the interaction of ADHD and autism in AuDHD could potentially add to increased assimilation in camouflaging as it is a common shared experience. More research into the camouflaging experiences of AuDHD people would be helpful in understanding this interaction.

“Managing our masking”—the AuDHD edition

Based on what we know about autistic people’s and ADHD-ershavers’ experiences with camouflaging, we can safely assume that AuDHD-ers likely camouflage more than the general population. Camouflaging may also be a contributor to the increased risk of experiencing anxiety and depression in AuDHD people. Knowing that maintaining camouflage likely brings lots of stress, here are some tips I’ve collected to help manage masking so that it doesn’t become harmful:

• Figure out which (if any) camouflaging techniques contribute the most to your success – for example, creating multiple reminders when you have difficulty with organization and time management.^[12]What is ADHD Masking? | VeryWellMind.com (Cuncic, 2023)
• Track how masking makes you feel – if you feel accomplished and structured, you’re likely gaining more from camouflaging than losing. However, if you feel exhausted and have increased negative thoughts about yourself, then it is causing you more harm than good in the long term.
• Acknowledge the fact that not all autistics camouflage/mask – Some autistics may find it too painful to mask which puts them at higher risk of ostracization and ridicule for being themselves. Those of us who mask must keep in mind that we get to experience social rewards in the world for being able to camouflage, rewards that autistics who cannot camouflage do not get to access.
• Learn other ways of coping with uncomfortable situations without having to camouflage – Not camouflaging means that we might be in situations where people have negative reactions to our neurodivergent identity. It’s important to be able to regulate our emotions when this happens instead of pretending we’re fine and hiding them.^[13]Masking in ADHD: The “Why” Matters | PsychCentral.com (Lovering, 2022)
• Understand that you are enough without having to mask – The choice to mask understandably feels necessary to many neurodivergent people (like myself) as a level of safety. The healthiest long-term solution, however, will lie within our ability to accept our identity and make choices affirming our natural inclinations while finding our place in wider society.