Adaptive Morphing and Coping with Social Threat in Autism: An Autistic Perspective

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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Lawson, W. (2020). Adaptive Morphing and Coping with Social Threat in Autism: An Autistic Perspective. Journal of Intellectual Disability - Diagnosis and Treatment, 8(3), 519-526. https://doi.org/10.6000/2292-2598.2020.08.03.29

Publication date: 14 Sep 2020 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
1
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 1 (100.0%)
  1. Wenn Lawson *

Abstract

This paper highlights the role of terminology, such as camouflage and masking, commonly used in autism research. The author suggests researchers question assumptions around language commonly used to check it is fully representative of the autistic position. Being autistic often means being very literal. This literality means it is very important for researchers – particularly non-autistic researchers – to design research questions in a way that will gather accurate information often underlying autistic understanding. Words are powerful tools and lead to beliefs and positions held. Adaptive morphing in autism (currently referred to as camouflage or masking) infers a response, not of deceit, but one that is biological and not necessarily chosen. The author of this paper suggests masking, as a choice to deceive, is quite different from adaptive morphing for safety.

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: 2 Oct 2026 11:55.

Cited references
38
With a DOI
23
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
13
4 / 38 (10.5%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
14 / 38 (36.8%)
References with detected author names
24 / 38 (63.2%)
Without detected author names
14
Without a structured title
13
Without a stable identifier
13
References with raw author names still to review
13
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
61
From DOI or external metadata
61
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
19
31 / 61 (50.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 30 / 61 (49.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
6 / 61 (9.8%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 6 / 31 (19.4%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 4 / 55 (7.3%).
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