I’m curious how that could work. That peaks my interest because I’ve known people who have autism and seem great at socializing. I don’t have autism, but I’m very socially awkward, and if autistic people can do that I find it inspirational for my own socializing journey.
A podcaster on Radio Free Totebag casually said it, and idk if it was just as a passing joke, or if they were speaking factually. They mentioned a therapist not liking that they still say they’re autistic when it’s an old diagnosis.
There are many types of masking, I can only really attest to two: masking so people don’t notice I’m neurodivergent, and one that many of us are familiar with, “professional” masking, where you put on your workplace attitude, laboring with a smile when supervisors are near etc, or dealing with customers in customer service etc, this is a “mask” you are forced to wear as you perform your duty
Similarly for people like me, I have to perform being ‘normal’ on top of that, otherwise it causes issues because of the societal expectations we live in with this late stage capitalist hellworld
Thats how I think about it anyway