The learned or unconscious suppression of natural behaviors, needs, or expressions to meet dominant expectations of communication, emotion, or professionalism.
Often framed as adaptability, masking is really self-erasure under social pressure – a survival strategy that hides difference at the cost of exhaustion, confusion, and loss of authenticity.
“They called it professionalism, but it was really masking.”
Related Reading:
“The Violence of Inclusion: When Access Requires Disappearance” by Bridgette H. (2025) — A powerful essay on how institutional “inclusion” often demands self-erasure and conformity, especially for neurodivergent people. It names the quiet violence of being welcomed only when you disappear.
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