Autistic people's perception of social camouflaging: Qualitative analysis of a web forum

PurposeCamouflaging their autistic characteristics is a common coping strategy among autistic people, often leading to diagnostic delays and negative impacts on mental health. Although existing literature has examined autistic people’s views on camouflaging, it rarely explores these perspectives through natural conversations outside of research settings. To address this gap, we analyzed autistic people’s perception of camouflaging based on online discussions between autistic people.MethodologyThis study examined 194 posts from 68 users on a UK-based autism forum, employing inductive thematic analysis to identify key aspects of camouflaging.FindingsThe analysis revealed a predominantly negative view of camouflaging, with most users employing it primarily for social integration, especially in work settings. The most reported consequence was exhaustion. Not camouflaging leads to improved mental health, but also potentially to rejection.OriginalityOur findings strengthen existing knowledge about camouflaging by adding new analysis conducted directly on conversations happening organically. Future research should collect more data from natural conversations to validate these results and consider diverse sources of autistic individuals' perspectives.Keywords: social camouflaging, masking, autism spectrum disorder, web forum, perception