Camouflaging and masking (also known ad Impression Management) in autism are increasingly recognised as critical topics in clinical practice, research, and public discourse. However, key conceptual, developmental, and clinical questions remain—particularly in relation to children and adolescents. Advanced webinar led by Associate Professor Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai.
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| Ticket Type | Price |
|---|---|
| ACAMH paying Members (Online, Concession) | £69 (Join now and save) |
| ACAMH Learn Account Holders | £89 |
| Non Members | £89 |
| ACAMH Undergraduate/Postgraduate Members | £5 |
| LMIC Members | Free |
Who should attend
Clinical Psychologists, CAMHS practitioners, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrists, Neurodevelopmental specialists, Educational Psychologists, Mental Health Nurses, Psychotherapists, Autism practitioners, Researchers, SEN professionals, and allied professionals working with autistic children and adolescents.
About the session
Talk title ‘Impression Management of Autistic People: What We Know, What We Don’t, and What It Means for Clinicians’.
In this advanced webinar, Associate Professor Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai explores the latest evidence on autistic masking and camouflaging, including current debates, developmental perspectives, and the implications for assessment, clinical formulation, and support planning.
Designed for clinicians, researchers, and professionals working with autistic young people, this session provides an evidence-based, reflective overview of a rapidly evolving area in child and adolescent mental health.
Some autistic people engage in behavioural strategies, collectively termed “camouflaging” (also commonly known as “masking”), to minimise the visibility of their autistic characteristics in social situations. These strategies include mimicking neurotypical social behaviours, concealing natural autistic expressions, and striving to blend into social groups. While clinicians have long noted camouflaging in their autistic clients, particularly in girls and women, systematic scientific understanding has only emerged over the past decade.
This talk introduces autistic camouflaging through the lens of impression management — the broader, universal human practice of regulating behaviour to shape how we are perceived by others. Viewing camouflaging this way helps clinicians understand its motivations, mechanisms, and consequences, and situate it as part of a shared human experience rather than an isolated autism trait. Drawing on emerging research, the lecture covers: how camouflaging is defined and measured; what we know and do not know about sex and gender differences and variation across age groups (including the minimal research done with children); and the complex, sometimes inconsistent, evidence linking camouflaging to wellbeing — understanding this relationship has direct implications for how clinicians tailor support.
The second half turns to clinical implications. How impression management operates in autistic people has direct relevance to autism diagnosis across developmental stages, and shapes how clinicians think about intervention and support, particularly from a bio-ecological perspective. This remains an emerging area, especially for younger age groups, and clinical applications are actively developing alongside the accumulating research evidence.
Learning outcomes
- Define autistic camouflaging as a form of impression management, including its core dimensions and what current evidence does (and does not) tells us about sex and gender differences, variation across age groups, and its complex relationship with wellbeing.
- Appreciate the complicated implications of camouflaging for autism diagnosis, including how it may obscure autistic presentations and contribute to missed or delayed identification (with the strongest evidence in adults, and limited data at earlier developmental stages), the challenges this poses for equitable recognition across sexes and genders, and how clinical perspectives of autistic presentation(s) and whether there are multiple autisms may interact with these inequities.
- Apply a systemic, multi-level framework to clinical support for autistic young people, recognising the double-edged nature of impression management and identifying approaches that reduce compelled autistic camouflaging, while remaining appropriately cautious about the still-emerging clinical evidence base.
FAQs on the topic
1. What is masking and camouflaging (Impression Management) in autism?
Masking and camouflaging describe the strategies some autistic young people use to hide or compensate for autistic traits in social situations — for example, copying others, scripting conversations, or holding back natural responses. It often takes considerable mental effort. The two terms are used in overlapping ways, and there is ongoing debate about how to define them and whether they describe the same thing.
2. Why do some autistic young people mask their traits?
Masking is usually a response to social pressure — a wish to fit in, avoid standing out, or stay safe from being misunderstood or excluded. It can bring short-term social benefits, which is part of why young people do it. But the effort involved, and the gap it creates between how a young person appears and how they feel, can carry a longer-term cost.
3. How does masking affect the mental health of autistic young people?
Sustained masking is linked with stress, exhaustion, and difficulties such as anxiety and low mood. Constantly monitoring and adjusting how you come across is tiring, and can leave a young person feeling disconnected from who they are. Recognising masking helps the adults around a young person understand distress that might otherwise be missed.
4. Why can masking make autism harder to identify in children and young people?
When an autistic young person hides or compensates for their traits, those traits may not be obvious during an assessment or in a classroom. This can lead to autism being missed, questioned, or identified late — a pattern seen especially in girls and young women. Reports from parents and clinicians may also differ, since masking can vary across settings.
5. How can clinicians assess and support autistic young people who mask?
Assessment works best when it looks beyond observable behaviour, drawing on a young person’s own experience and how they present across different settings such as home and school. Support focuses on easing the pressure to mask, helping young people understand their own patterns, and building environments where they feel able to be themselves
Meet the speakers
Associate Professor Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai is a psychiatrist and internationally recognised researcher specialising in autism and mental health. He has led foundational studies defining and measuring autistic camouflaging, with particular attention to sex and gender differences in autistic presentations. He is Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Associate Professor at University of Toronto, Honorary Visiting Fellow at the Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, and Adjunct Attending Psychiatrist at the National Taiwan University Hospital. His work spans clinical, psychological, and biological dimensions of autism across the lifespan. He provides clinical services to young people and young adults at CAMH.