TPP 292: Dr. Devon Price on His New Book, "Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity"
episode
Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
42 min
1 speaker
4 chapters
transcribed 1 day ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is autism masking and why is it compared to being closeted?
So, masking, I liken to being closeted as a queer person or as a trans person. No one uh decides one day, oh, I'm gonna be in the closet. You're born in the closet because the world assumes you're straight and assumes you're cisgender and demands that you be that in many cases. And I think that's exactly what's going on with autism masking as well. We're born into a world where a very narrow range of behaviors, ways of emoting, ways of thinking are permissible and everyone is expected and demanded to act like a neurotypical person if such a person even exists.
Welcome to Tilt Parenting, a podcast featuring interviews and conversations aimed at inspiring, informing, and supporting parents raising differently wired kids. I'm your host, Debbie Rieber, and welcome to the summer of 2022 season of the podcast. I'm really excited to kick things off with a fascinating guest who has a powerful new book that I think is a must-read for this community. I'm talking about Dr. Devin Price, a social psychologist, professor, author, and proud autistic person, and the author of the new book Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity. As you can imagine, I get pitched a lot of books and authors and potential podcast guests, but I knew as soon as I dove into unmasking autism that I wanted to have Devin on the show.
In this conversation, Devin and I talk about what masking is, what it looks like, and whether or not it's something autistic people choose to do or not. We also talk about why masking is more complex for autistic people of color, the relationship between masking and gender, and what integration looks like for a neurodivergent person. And a little bit more about Devin. His research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and the Journal of Positive Psychology. Devin's writing has appeared in outlets such as Huff Post, Slate, Business Insider, Lithub, and on PBS and MPR. He lives in Chicago, where he serves as an assistant professor at Loyola University.
Chicago School of Continuing and Professional Studies. Devin is also the author of the book Laziness Does Not Exist. So this conversation is one not only for parents and caregivers of differently wired kids, but also for all neurodivergent adults who may have been masking for a long time and are ready to start unmasking. I hope the strategies that Devin shares can help people reflect on how to embrace their authentic selves and to do the same for others. And before I get to that, I just want to welcome you again to the summer season. I have a great lineup for you, including episodes on some topics we haven't covered extensively before, like nonverbal learning disorder, pans, somatic therapy, supporting our kids transition to adulthood, and much more.
Also, Playback Friday episodes will be starting this Friday too, and that's where I re-release a popular episode from way back when I started this show six years ago. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss an episode. Thanks so much and now here is my conversation with Devin. Hey Deb and welcome to the podcast.
Hi Debbie, thanks for having me.
Well, I'm really excited to talk about your book and your work. I was excited when someone from your publishing company reached out to me. I get pitched all the time, but this one I was like, Oh, I need to read this book and I loved it. But I would love to start this conversation off by just learning a little bit more about you and the work that you do in the world and how that kind of led you to write the book that we're going to be talking about today.
Sure, yeah. So first of all, thanks for taking the time to read the book and engage with it because I'm starting to know from being in the publishing world all of the weird pitches that I'm starting to get in the mail. So anytime somebody takes the time to actually sit with one, um, I'm very appreciative of that. So I'm a social psychologist and a professor at um Loyola University, Chicago.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is autism masking and why is it compared to being closeted?
0:00–5:14
2
How did Devon Price discover his autism diagnosis and what sparked his research?
5:14–19:23
3
Why is masking especially complex for autistic people of color?
19:23–28:27
4
What is the relationship between masking, gender identity, and the rise of trans autistic youth?
28:27–42:43
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Full-Tilt Parenting: Strategies, Insights, and Connection for Parents Raising Neurodivergent Children
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