Camouflaging in Autism: Relationship with Gender Identity and Environmental Settings

Autism Spectrum Disorder (henceforth autism) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by deficits in social communication and interaction and restrictive and repetitive interests and behaviours. Although autism is diagnosed based on observable social and non-social behavioural characteristics, there is a growing recognition that autistic individuals may appear non-autistic in specific contexts. Thus, autism traits may appear to be reduced, which may be done consciously or unconsciously depending on the social context. The phenomenon of the concealment of autistic traits has been coined as 'camouflaging'. While the current research on camouflaging in autism is promising, it still is in its infancy, and many research gaps remain, with questions unanswered to fully understand the camouflaging phenomenon across different perspectives on the spectrum. Noticeably absent in camouflaging research is the role of gender identities and, environmental settings . Overall, research has emphasised traditional gender roles, with a noticeable lack of inclusion of diverse gender identities within study samples. Additionally, research on the role of environmental settings is stunted, as camouflaging is largely seen within research as a construct within an individual. Many autistic adults within the current research have stated that camouflaging strategies developed in their early adolescence. Thus, It would be worth investigating as well how environments impact camouflaging behaviours, a topic that has not been investigated in its own right. This doctoral research aims to understand the social factors, events, and experiences associated with camouflaging in autism. Thus, the identified gaps mentioned above in the field of the autistic camouflaging need to be highlighted and investigated. For this research, one systematic review and three empirical studies regarding the areas of research interest mentioned above will be conducted. Given the infancy of the research , gathering first-hand accounts from autistic individuals to understand and document their experiences to guide further research with a solid foundation is of utmost importance. Thus, qualitative research methods will be utilised to provide valuable and detailed descriptions of a complex phenomenon such as camouflaging in autism and aid in illuminating experiences directly from the voice of those participating in the phenomenon.