It is estimated that worldwide one in 160 children, and one in every 100 children in UK has ASD. Some well controlled studies have, however, reported much higher figures. The worldwide presence of autism is rapidly escalating and is more common in boys than girls by a ratio of approximately five to one. However, new study shows that autistic girls going undiagnosed due to ‘camouflaging’ behaviour. The study explores how autism may manifest differently between both sexes. Jolanta Lasota, chief executive of Ambitious about Autism, the national charity for children and young people with autism, said the impact of camouflaging could be catastrophic for autistic girls. “Attempting to mask or hide autistic behaviours in social situations is extremely damaging to young’s people mental health”‘, she said. We need to raise awareness of camouflaging, because there seems to be a lot of autistic young people, especially females,  flying under the radar as things currently stand. 

Autistic children have lots of different feelings about camouflaging. For some of them camouflaging is helpful as it allows them to talk to peers, go to school without being treated differently. But many others, would like to be themselves and make friends without having to hide their autistic traits. 

Camouflaging takes a lot of effort. Pretending to be someone else can be really tiring. Individual characteristics may interact with gender to further reduce the likelihood of females receiving an autism diagnosis. Furthermore, females with low IQ are more likely to receive a diagnosis than females with high IQ. There is also some evidence to suggest that adult women are seeking and receiving autism diagnoses to a greater extent than men, supporting the argument that these women were more likely to be missed at a younger age than their male peers. 

Overall, autistic girls may be quieter, hide their feelings and may not display the stereotypical behaviours associated with autism. Some studies have found that people who camouflage more, have also more mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety and self-harm. 

Further, more than a fifth of 14-year-old girls in the UK said they had self-harmed. 

Self-harmed is when people hurt themselves as a way of dealing with difficult feelings, painful memories or overwhelming situations and experiences. Many young people who self-harm have feelings of guilt or shame which they find hard to bear. Self-harm is a way of punishing themselves. It can include anything from punching, hitting, burning to eating disorders, like bulimia or anorexia.

What is masking and how does it look like?

Masking is often the unconscious act of covering up and suppressing the autistic traits and replacing them with neurotypical behaviour. 

Most autistic people learn to mask at a very young age, whether they are told directly to stop moving their hands and sit still, they simply observe their surroundings and make their own conclusions on what is socially acceptable. They mask because they are taught (at school, home etc.), that their behaviour is ‘not normal’ and so they must try their best to fit in with the rest of society. 

Masking can look like: suppressing stims, hiding emotions, acting like peers even when it is uncomfortable, putting on fake facial expressions, not asking for help, pretend to enjoy something they dislike, withholding meltdowns, lying regularly, forcing eye contact, apologizing excessively for poor memory or any other autistic traits they have, that is impossible to mask, having to forcefully stop themselves from oversharing on a special interest. This is a big one, having to pretend too not to be overstimulated which leads to massive burnouts, a hugely debilitating and often life-changing event that takes significant amount of care, time and patience to recover. 

Autistic spectrum disorder is sometimes described as “neuro-behavioural-psychiatric-genetic-gastrointestinal” disorder because there are multiply organ systems and elements that give rise to the “totality of symptoms”. 

For this reason, homeopathy is an ideal fit because a person on the spectrum requires an individual approach. The aim of homeopathic treatment is there to help you or your child to become more resilient to bacterias, viruses, emotional trauma. You can expect to have more appropriate responses to life, to be more settled in your own body, to be more comfortable with those around you, more resilient to food, atmosphere and toxins. Consequently, you will become more confident and more at peace with yourself.  Individually prescribed remedies will help to break a shell of inwardness and enable you to connect with outside environment.