‘It’s Exhausting’: The Hidden Struggles of Working Autistic People
Over 80% of autistic people are unemployed; it isn’t surprising that only a small percentage of us work. It is truly exhausting for autistic people like myself to be constantly masking, and it takes up a considerable part of your cognitive capacity to ‘act normal’ (whatever that means).Everyone at work, my friends, and my family believe that I am coping marvellously well, and I’m here to tell you that most autistic people who are working are probably not coping as well as it seems. Every day is a struggle: the mask I put on each time I log into work, the makeup I hide behind. The pandemic has been a blessing in disguise for many neurodivergent people, as it means that there is a more significant opportunity for remote working, and to be honest, I think without the option of remote working, I would not be at work. I recognise it’s a privilege to function daily as an autistic person to the extent that you can sustain a full-time job. Since I was 18, I’ve always worked, managing part-time positions while studying at university and securing full-time roles after finishing studying. I chose education and career paths that regularly overwhelmed me because I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worthy of acceptance into society. To do this, it involved and still does involve a great deal of masking, and research shows that autistic women are heavily undiagnosed because they are significantly better at masking their autistic needs.
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