This Is Us

What Hiding My Autism Costs Me

It’s painful and exhausting to ‘mask’ Autism — but I have no other choice

Devon Price
Human Parts
Published in
11 min readApr 28, 2020

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Photo of a man with his eyes covered by flowers.
Photo: Noah Buscher/Unsplash

Recently, I’ve become obsessed with the Instagram account MyAutisticPartner, which follows the lives of an allistic (that is, non-Autistic) man and his wife Boo, an Autistic nurse. It gives me a glimpse into a world I wish I could inhabit: a life where hiding my Autism isn’t necessary, because I am wholly understood, accepted, and loved, no matter how strange I am or how much support I require.

Boo’s husband runs the account for the most part, though Boo provides input on much of the content, consents to all the posts, and is more comfortable sharing photos of herself on the account than her husband is. The husband writes lovingly about Boo’s very Autistic habits, such as collecting toys and spending hours lining them up on the floor. He talks lightheartedly about how Boo finds certain hygiene requirements, like washing her hair, to be a sensory nightmare.

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Devon Price
Devon Price

Written by Devon Price

He/Him or It/Its. Social Psychologist & Author of LAZINESS DOES NOT EXIST and UNMASKING AUTISM. Links to buy: https://linktr.ee/drdevonprice

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