List The Ways You Mask

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Just read a post about masking where someone listed some ways they mask. I found it really interesting as it had stuff I did but never considered it masking.

What ways do you mask ?

My most common one was with a sense of humour and acting thick. Pretending to be interested is one... Though it rarely works effectively so I am soon discovered. I tend to avoid conversations then get myself in trouble by pretending.

Also, part of masking comes with prosopragnosia (Faceblindness) where I am always putting on a "Friendly smile" mask incase I offend someone by ignoring them. By adopting the friendly smile mask, those who know me will come to have a chat rather then me trying to identify them! I then have a chnce to try to fathom out who they are if I can't recognise them!

"Masking" seems to me to be any kind of social nicety that is strictly supererogatory, especially - but not only - those autistic people might find particularly challenging.

So I suppose I should list things like sitting upright at tables, not belching or passing wind in public, using cutlery to eat, not staring lasciviously at women's bottoms - and the like.

Forcing eye contact. I do this. When I first started doing this (As I was often told off for not mking eye contact so I made the effort to mke eye contact) I would put my face about a foot or less away from other peoples faces to stare at them. I assumed this was what I was supposed to do to make eye contact? Umm. I soon found out that it was not what was required! I can laugh about it now, but I went through a tough time to find it out I guess...
I never did exactly get the hang of being one of the boys when in college.

Now here is one I had to stop when I had my first job. Stimming. I never knew it was stimming until I joined this site. I used to be always wrapping my hands together and folding my hands over each other as I talked. In this job the other co-worker called me "Gollum". I didn't know what Gollum was.
He had me fold my arms when talking to people so I would not be fidgiting. Then, with a later job I was always being told off for folding my arms. I couldn't win!

Eye contact:

A female teacher once grabbed my chin, forced it up so that my face was level with hers while shouting at me to make eye contact.

Bear in mind that this was in 2006 or so; I would have been around ten years old. Times haven't necessarily changed.

I don't understand why people claim to have been traumatised by this sort of thing when it was more commonplace; to me, it's just an amusing anecdote that, as an adult, I'm fond of sharing with people.

Making eye-contact without locking on and not blinking much
Speaking slowly enough to be easily understood and pausing where appropriate
Smiling or putting a reasonably appropriate expression on my face

NO rocking, flapping, snapping or other similar behaviors

No verbal stims or sounds

Paying special attention to others speech and doing the back and forth flow of converstion

Probably too many others to list . I don't always "human" very well and have to censor what I really want to say so that it isn't to blunt or offensive.

claim ?

I don't know what you mean. Not trivialising other people's suffering at all here, just stating that I don't understand it. Personally, I wish I had more little anecdotes like that one to share.

My bad , I thought you were.

The lack of ferret pictures you've been posting recently is traumatising me

When you are having these moments in the future you get all the ferrets you need here viewtopic.php?f=24&t=352128&start=675

^

Link to that please.