Authenticity is a difficult thing to understand, let alone achieve. As humans we are social animals therefore most of our behaviours are social constructed. They are embedded in cultural contexts including place, religion, family structures, class, language and so much more.
On a micro level this includes differences in expectations across different spheres of our lives. What is deemed “inappropriate” in a work place may be appropriate behaviour at home and with loved ones. A good example of this would be swearing – there are few spaces in which people can be paid whilst also using curse words!
Moving throughout different spheres of expectation means that we change and adapt our behaviours. These can be relatively small changes such as wearing a uniform to work or being quiet in a classroom. Theses changes can be more dramatic and performative such as remaining polite to customers under the insistence that the customer is always right.
The way we talk with our friends is likely different to the way we talk to family. The way we engage with colleagues may be different to how we do this with our children. These behaviours are useful for us to maintain relationships and get on with the business of living. For marginalised people behaviours can be adopted to keep one safe.
Adopting behaviours to keep safe
Behaviours can be effected by the need for safety which largely affects marginalised people who experience stigma, prejudice, abuse and violence for simply being ourselves.
Black people and people of colour may use code-switching to change their words and mannerisms. Code-switching within predominantly white spaces may help to keep people of the global majority safe. Unfortunately, this causes other issues with mental health and feelings of unbelonging (Alena Conley shares her experiences in I Code-Switch To Survive, But It’s Exhausting).
Staying closeted for LGBTQIA+ people is another safety mechanism used to hide away parts of ourselves that may cause bigots to harm us. This is particularly used by people within countries were being queer is illegal and can culminate in physical violence and the death penalty. Some people come out later in life due to fear of estrangement or harm from family members.
Similarly, Autistic Masking is used to keep safe, be taken seriously and be given the same opportunities as non-Autistic people. Some times this masking is forced onto us from physical violence within behavioural practices included those used in the Judge Rutenberg Centre (read more about the Stop The Shock campaign here)
All these safety mechanisms are a trauma response to stigma and marginalisation. They are automatic responses that are not based in deceit but have the sole purpose of keeping one safe. One person may exhibit and use all of these mechanisms, and more besides, which can cause further issues with understanding our authentic selves.
Is Autistic Shielding another safety mechanism?
Autistic Shielding is a term I’ve been wrestling with for a few years. I believe it to be a transformational practice based in authenticity that may look different in different places. Through Autistic Shielding we are not emulating mannerisms and ways of being. We are those ways of being. I’m more Autistic in Autistic spaces. I’m more queer around queer people. What I mean by this is that I lean in to my overt self in all its Autisticness, queerness and in all the other marginalised ways of being and doing that I inhabit.
Autistic Shielding is not a automatic safety response but an ability to create Autistic family, much in the same way that queer people have had chosen families. Autistic Shielding can be seen within Autistic community building for those of use who have the privilege to create and belong to safer spaces to be overtly Autistic.
How can Autistic Shielding be used by more Autistic people?
Autistic Shielding brings the whole self out and could be applied to neurodivergent people more generally. Leaning in to the behaviours and ways of being that make us outcasts. How can Autistic Shielding become a safer practice to be used by all Autistic people who may want to engage with it?
I don’t have the answer for this yet. I am open to how this could be applied across Autistic lived experiences. I love this piece by Nicole Igarashi and would be interested to see more ideas.
I still grapple with what I meant by first using the term some years back at Aucademy. I’m still looking at how Autistic Shielding may fit with (or go against) existing community theories including Autistic Masking, Neuroqueering, Community Connectedness and The Double Empathy Problem.