Autism masking at work: the journey behind every “functioning” colleague

Last year I shared a reminder on LinkedIn that I think about a lot:

Just because someone is autistic and has a job & “functioning life” doesn’t mean that they weren’t once an autistic kid that had to mask and conform to a neurotypical way of communicating & living.

When someone tells you they’re autistic, you’re only seeing where they are now. You’re not seeing the road they took to get there. I want to talk about that road, because it shapes how a lot of autistic people experience work.

What masking looked like for me

I was diagnosed with ADHD at 5 and autism at 6. Growing up, I was told to sit still, make eye contact and fit in. I spent my whole childhood trying to be someone else.

That’s masking. It’s the constant work of hiding or adjusting how you naturally communicate and behave so you fit a neurotypical idea of “normal”. It can look like copying other people’s body language, rehearsing small talk, forcing eye contact or holding back the things that help you focus. From the outside, it can look like someone is coping fine. From the inside, it’s exhausting.

When I stopped trying to conform to neurotypical expectations, everything changed. I stopped asking “how do I fix myself?” and started asking “how do I work best?” That shift is a big part of why Neuropool exists.

Why autism masking at work is so common

Masking doesn’t stop at the office door. Often it gets stronger, because there’s more at stake: your income, your reputation, your next promotion.

The Buckland Review of Autism Employment, a government-backed review published in 2024, found that only around 3 in 10 working-age autistic people are in employment. It also found that many autistic jobseekers feel they must mask their autistic traits to succeed, and that only around 35% of autistic employees are fully open about being autistic at work.

My LinkedIn post put it simply: many of us experience ableism when we disclose, at work or with friends, and that’s a big part of why disclosure rates are so low. If being open has cost you before, hiding feels like the safer option. I’ve been asked to be “less autistic” in a job. Comments like that teach you to mask harder.

What happens when people stop masking

When I asked my LinkedIn community what they’d stopped doing to fit in, one answer stuck with me:

“I stopped masking at work. Now I use that energy on the actual work.”

That’s the business case in one sentence. All the energy that goes into hiding is energy that isn’t going into the job. When autistic people can work in a way that suits them, they can put that effort into what they were hired to do.

How employers can make masking less necessary

You can’t make anyone stop masking, and you shouldn’t try. What you can do is build a workplace where it isn’t needed as much. From my own experience, these make a real difference:

• Make communication clear. Written instructions, a short summary after meetings and clear expectations reduce the guesswork that drives a lot of masking.

• Offer adjustments to everyone. If quiet spaces, noise-cancelling headphones or flexible hours are open to the whole team, nobody has to “out” themselves to use them, and there’s no stigma attached.

• Don’t make assumptions. Ask people what helps. An adjustment made without asking can make someone feel singled out, which is the opposite of what you want.

• Judge the work, not the performance of “normal”. Eye contact, small talk and how someone sits in a meeting tell you nothing about how good they are at their job.

• Respond well to disclosure. If someone trusts you with it, thank them, ask what they need, and keep it as private as they want it to be.

Remember the journey

So, next time someone tells you they’re autistic, remember that they probably had a hell of a journey to get where they are. The colleague who seems to have it all together may have spent years learning to hide parts of themselves just to get through the door.

The best thing you can do is make it safe for them to stop hiding.

Build a workplace where people don’t have to mask

If you’re an employer who wants autistic people to thrive in your team, find out how Neuropool works with employers or book a demo with us. If you’re autistic and looking for a workplace that accepts you as you are, explore the Neuropool jobs board.

Originally shared on LinkedIn: read Jack’s original post.