For Crystal, and for a lot of masked Autistic people, middle school is when a lot of struggles really come to the fore.

Autistic people have differences in the development of their anterior cingulate cortex,[14] a part of the brain that helps regulate attention, decision making, impulse control, and emotional processing.

What unites us, generally speaking, is a bottom-up processing style that impacts every aspect of our lives and how we move through the world, and the myriad practical and social challenges that come with being different.

We are hyperreactive to even small stimuli in our environment We have trouble distinguishing between information or sensory data that should be ignored versus data that should be carefully considered We are highly focused on details rather than “big picture” concepts We’re deeply and deliberatively analytical Our decision-making process is methodic

So, she started begging her mom to let her skip school. “It was really hard to convince my mom to let me stay home that much,” Crystal says. “And eventually I hit the limit of how many sick days I could have without getting in trouble. But for as long as I could I got ‘stomachaches’ and stayed home, which really kept me sane.”

Refusing to perform neurotypicality is a revolutionary act of disability justice. It’s also a radical act of self-love. But in order for Autistic people to take our masks off and show our real, authentically disabled selves to the world, we first have to feel safe enough to get reacquainted with who we really are. Developing self-trust and self-com

Autism Terminology: Common Dos and Don’ts Use This Avoid This Autistic person Autist Autistic On the Autism spectrum Person with Autism Is Autistic Identifies as having autism Is disabled Has a disability “Special needs” “Differently abled” “Handi-capable” Neurotypical (NT) Allistic Non-Autistic Normal Has high support needs Has low support needs L

Masked Autistics sometimes find structure and belonging in “high control” groups, such as radicalized political organizations, religious communities with very restrictive beliefs, and cults. High control groups famously prey on people who are lonely and desperately seek a sense of purpose. Their repetitive rituals, seemingly close-knit social bonds

Sometimes what society (and the psychiatric establishment) considers to be an individual defect is in fact a perfectly benign difference that needs accommodation and acceptance instead. Though being gay was once classed as a mental illness, it never actually was one. Trying to “cure” gayness never worked, and only caused more psychological damage.