The Masking Crisis: Why Inclusion Often Fails the Neurodivergent
Masking as part of neurodivergent living
They smile, they deliver, they meet deadlines – and then they crash. Every weekend. Or cry in the bathroom. Or burn out entirely. That’s masking. And it’s one of the most misunderstood barriers to true inclusion.
Inclusion has become a strategic buzzword in today’s workplace. But for many neurodivergent employees — especially women with ADHD, autistic professionals, and those with sensory processing differences — “inclusion” doesn’t mean safety. It means performance. It means hiding. It means surviving.
And most companies don’t even know it’s happening.
What is Masking?
Masking (or camouflaging) is the act of suppressing natural behaviors, needs, or reactions in order to appear more “neurotypical.” It can look like:
• Forcing eye contact even when it’s distressing
• Hiding fidgeting or movement needs
• Over-preparing for meetings to compensate for working memory issues
• Staying silent in groups despite good ideas — to avoid being “too much”
It’s a deeply ingrained survival strategy. One that often starts in childhood and continues at work, where the stakes — income, reputation, advancement — are high.
A 2020 UK-based study found that neurodivergent employees mask in the workplace at least 50% of the time — and many don’t feel safe disclosing at all.
Thematic map of participants’ workplace masking experiences.
Why Masking Happens at Work
The modern workplace still rewards sameness. The “ideal employee” is fast, focused, emotionally regulated, and always available. But this model is built around neurotypical norms — and penalizes difference, even unintentionally.
Common triggers for masking:
• Environments that favor constant eye contact, meetings, and “presence”
• “Soft skills” evaluations that conflate communication style with competence
• Lack of accommodations or understanding of executive functioning struggles
• Shame-based cultures that confuse regulation with suppression
Neurodivergent people have learned quickly: to belong, you have to bend.
No one should have to mask to matter.
Let’s redesign belonging.
No one should have to mask to matter. Let’s redesign belonging.
The Hidden Cost of Masking
While masking may create the appearance of competence and composure, it often comes at a quiet, devastating cost. Day after day, neurodivergent employees push themselves to behave “normally” — suppressing tics, mirroring others’ tone, over-preparing for meetings, staying silent in brainstorming sessions, or forcing themselves to remain in overstimulating environments.
On the outside, it looks like professionalism. On the inside, it’s exhaustion.
The toll of this long-term self-suppression is cumulative and far-reaching. Over time, masking erodes mental health, destabilizes emotional resilience, and overtaxes the nervous system. What looks like burnout or anxiety on paper may in fact be the predictable outcome of years — sometimes decades — of hiding.
There’s also a relational cost: masking disconnects people from themselves and others. It leads to surface-level engagement, internalized shame, and the sense that their presence at work is conditional.
For many, especially neurodivergent women and multiply marginalized employees, masking becomes a survival mechanism so automatic it’s hard to notice — until the body begins to break down.
Why Inclusion Often Fails Here
Despite increasing awareness, many companies:
Focus predominantly on visible accommodations (e.g. work hours) but miss invisible needs (e.g. sensory load)
Train in “neurodiversity awareness” without trauma literacy or embodiment
Assume silence equals consent or comfort — when it may signal internal collapse
Inclusion fails not because companies don’t care — but because they don’t yet understand the nervous system cost of being different in a world that punishes it.
SO HOW CAN WE ADDRESS MASKING AT WORK?
Creating environments where masking is no longer necessary is the gold standard. This means shifting from performative DEI to embodied, relational, safety-oriented leadership.
A few starting points:
Name masking explicitly in awareness trainings
Offer an invitation to employees to unmask slowly and establish systems that allow for psychological safety to do so
Provide neuroinclusive communication tools and meeting formats
Embed embodied safety practices like micro-pauses, movement invitations, and consent cues
Offer leadership coaching grounded in neurodivergent experience and trauma-informed practice
Final Thought: Belonging Can’t Be Performed
If someone has to hide who they are in order to belong, it’s not inclusion. It’s endurance.
And endurance burns out brilliance.
Let’s build cultures where no one has to mask to matter. Not just for the sake of our neurodivergent colleagues — but for the health, innovation, and humanity of our workplaces as a whole.
→ Want to learn more?
Explore my in-house workshops on neurodiversity competence, embodied leadership, and team-based safety design. Or get in touch for custom learning journeys.
