IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v248y2020ics0277953620300459.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The mask of autism: Social camouflaging and impression management as coping/normalization from the perspectives of autistic adults

Author

Listed:
  • Schneid, Iris
  • Raz, Aviad E.

Abstract

Autism entails impression management, including social camouflaging, under conditions of conflict and stigma, with reduced ability to perform such social interaction as well as an increased toll that accompanies it. To examine the meanings of impression management and social camouflaging from the point-of-view of autistic people, we conducted a participatory study that included semi-structured interviews with 24 Israeli autistic adults in 2017–2018. We present views on the difference between camouflaging and impression management; impression management as a social asset; the ambivalence of camouflaging; the limits of impression management; and autistic forms of social communication that provide an alternative to impression management and camouflaging. These perspectives are discussed as leading from prioritizing social integration to prioritizing autistic empowerment. We further explore how the stigma of autism is turned, through camouflaging, into the mask of autism, offering to deconstruct the neurotypical premises of academically-approved concepts of socialization and impression management. Emancipatory participative research thus provides a unique opportunity not only to sociologically explore the deeper contours of “social disability” but also the “disabilities of sociology”, offering directions for the neuro-diversification of sociology, in parallel with the recent thrust of building a “sociology of autism".

Suggested Citation

  • Schneid, Iris & Raz, Aviad E., 2020. "The mask of autism: Social camouflaging and impression management as coping/normalization from the perspectives of autistic adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:248:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620300459
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112826
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620300459
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112826?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raz, Aviad & Jongsma, Karin R. & Rimon-Zarfaty, Nitzan & Späth, Elisabeth & Bar-Nadav, Bosmat & Vaintropov, Ella & Schicktanz, Silke, 2018. "Representing autism: Challenges of collective representation in German and Israeli associations for and of autistic people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 65-72.
    2. Madeleine Akrich, 2010. "From Communities of Practice to Epistemic Communities: Health Mobilizations on the Internet," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 15(2), pages 116-132, May.
    3. Timo Lorenz & Cora Frischling & Raphael Cuadros & Kathrin Heinitz, 2016. "Autism and Overcoming Job Barriers: Comparing Job-Related Barriers and Possible Solutions in and outside of Autism-Specific Employment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claire Edwards & Etaoine Howlett & Madeleine Akrich & Vololona Rabeharisoa, 2012. "Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in France and Ireland: parents' groups' scientific and political framing of an unsettled condition," CSI Working Papers Series 024, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    2. Kuchinskaya, Olga & Parker, Lisa S., 2018. "‘Recurrent losers unite’: Online forums, evidence-based activism, and pregnancy loss," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 74-80.
    3. Alexandra Barry & Elena Syurina & Mitzi Waltz, 2023. "Support Priorities of Autistic University Students and Careers Advisors: Understanding Differences, Building on Strengths," Disabilities, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-20, May.
    4. Almudena Alameda Cuesta & à lvaro Pazos Garciandía & Cristina Oter Quintana & Marta Elena Losa Iglesias, 2021. "Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity: Illness Experiences," Clinical Nursing Research, , vol. 30(1), pages 32-41, January.
    5. Chamak, Brigitte, 2019. "Lobbying by association: The case of autism and the controversy over packing therapy in France," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 256-263.
    6. Melissa Scott & Andrew Jacob & Delia Hendrie & Richard Parsons & Sonya Girdler & Torbjörn Falkmer & Marita Falkmer, 2017. "Employers’ perception of the costs and the benefits of hiring individuals with autism spectrum disorder in open employment in Australia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, May.
    7. Carlton J. Fong & Joshua Taylor & Aynura Berdyyeva & Amanda M. McClelland & Kathleen M. Murphy & John D. Westbrook, 2021. "Interventions for improving employment outcomes for persons with autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review update," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), September.
    8. Rojatz, Daniela & Forster, Rudolf, 2017. "Self-help organisations as patient representatives in health care and policy decision-making," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(10), pages 1047-1052.
    9. Madeleine Akrich & Orla O'Donovan & Vololona Rabeharisoa, 2013. "The entanglement of scientific and political claims:towards a new form of patients’ activism," CSI Working Papers Series 035, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    10. Raz, Aviad & Jongsma, Karin R. & Rimon-Zarfaty, Nitzan & Späth, Elisabeth & Bar-Nadav, Bosmat & Vaintropov, Ella & Schicktanz, Silke, 2018. "Representing autism: Challenges of collective representation in German and Israeli associations for and of autistic people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 65-72.
    11. Michał T. Tomczak & Paweł Ziemiański, 2023. "Autistic Employees’ Technology-Based Workplace Accommodation Preferences Survey—Preliminary Findings," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(10), pages 1-11, May.
    12. Madeleine Akrich & Maire Leane & Celia Roberts & João Arriscado Nunes, 2012. "Practising childbirth activism: a politics of evidence," CSI Working Papers Series 023, Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI), Mines ParisTech.
    13. Alexandre Hannud Abdo & Jean‐Philippe Cointet & Pascale Bourret & Alberto Cambrosio, 2022. "Domain‐topic models with chained dimensions: Charting an emergent domain of a major oncology conference," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(7), pages 992-1011, July.
    14. Campbell, Patricia A., 2021. "Lay participation with medical expertise in online self-care practices: Social knowledge (co)production in the Running Mania injury forum," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    15. Craig Thompson & Sven Bölte & Torbjörn Falkmer & Sonya Girdler, 2018. "To be understood: Transitioning to adult life for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-16, March.
    16. Lhoste, Evelyne F., 2020. "Can do-it-yourself laboratories open up the science, technology, and innovation research system to civil society?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    17. Liron Lamash & Sonya Meyer, 2022. "Work-Related Self-Efficacy and Illness Identity in Adults with Autism," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-9, December.
    18. Coralie Fiori-Khayat, 2023. "In Search of Regained Time? Autism and Organizational [A]temporality in the Light of Humanistic Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(4), pages 665-679, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:248:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620300459. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.