The Impact of Autism-Affirming and Autism-Stigmatizing Cues on Autistic Adults’ Camouflaging Efforts

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Cottington, A. C. K. & Shoda, Y. (2025). The Impact of Autism-Affirming and Autism-Stigmatizing Cues on Autistic Adults’ Camouflaging Efforts. Autism in Adulthood, Article 25739581251379187. https://doi.org/10.1177/25739581251379187

Publication date: 24 Sep 2025 Added to AutiHub: 5 Oct 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
2
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 2 (50.0%)
  1. Ana Carolina Kodama Cottington *
  2. Yuichi Shoda

Abstract

Background: Camouflaging is widely used by autistic individuals to conceal their autistic behaviors in response to stigma; however, it is also associated with negative mental health outcomes. Because identity cues in social environments can signal either stigma or safety and shape how individuals experience their identity, they may also influence the extent to which autistic people engage in camouflaging. In a social psychological experiment, we examined the extent to which autistic adults adjust their camouflaging efforts in response to autism-affirming or stigmatizing identity cues within a controlled setting. Method: Using the Highly-Repeated Within-Person design, we tracked 135 autistic adults’ reports of camouflaging efforts across 24 hypothetical situations, each featuring either autism-affirming or autism-stigmatizing identity cues. Results: Most participants reported significantly less camouflaging efforts in situations with autism-affirming (vs. autism-stigmatizing) cues. This was particularly the case for those who more strongly identified with the autistic community. The study also demonstrated substantial diversity among autistic individuals in the effect of these cues on camouflaging efforts, even after accounting for participants’ strength of identification with the autistic community. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that autism-affirming cues can create environments where autistic people feel safe to express themselves authentically. In addition, the substantial diversity across participants in the effect of these cues we observed for each individual highlights the limitations of a “one-size-fits-all” approach, underscoring the need to further explore individual differences among autistic adults.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 28 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
48
With a DOI
45
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
2
12 / 48 (25.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 48 (2.1%)
References with detected author names
47 / 48 (97.9%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
1
References with raw author names still to review
1
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
177
From DOI or external metadata
177
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
99 / 177 (55.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 78 / 177 (44.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
17 / 177 (9.6%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 17 / 99 (17.2%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 15 / 148 (10.1%).
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