06/15/2026
Welcome back to Masking Monday!!
We did a 7 Part Series on Defense Mechanisms...
And now we're doing a MUCH shorter series on Unmasking.
Part 4 of 5 incoming!
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PART 1: What Does it Mean to Unmask / What are Neurodivergent Needs?
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CzbSG582d/
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PART 2: Sensory Needs
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Hk2u1wGHs/
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PART 3: Processing Needs
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Gzs6Mvejg/
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PART 4: Communicative Needs
There is so much involved with communication people take for granted;
we don't realize how much it's influenced by the culture of where we're born;
we don't realize how much it's influenced by neuronormative expectations,
or for that matter,
capitalistic, cishet, yt, gendernormative expectations...
and I haven't yet mentioned the disconnect between styles of communication,
active versus passive,
figures of speech...
Plus, when you're a neurodivergent brain, many of these needs may be influenced by your other ones that fall under processing, sensory, or social.
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Location of Birth Matters
I have a good friend of mine who moved from a French speaking part of my country to my English area;
in their area, their "inability" to pick up the regional language
- potentially as a result of language processing differences, extreme likelihood of PDA kicking in -
meant loss of financial access, despite their total competence.
It meant relationships between themselves and others outside of their family home were tense and difficult to navigate;
a LOT of coping mechanisms found, many aligned with people-pleasing, even as this friend did a decent job advocating for their needs with loved ones and setting boundaries.
But imagine if they'd been born in a region that practiced the family's language?
To be fair, the family DID speak both languages,
but my friend's brain gravitated to one and not the other.
Answering "why" has delighted linguists, anthropologists, and neuroscientists in their research.
I'd love to know the holistic assessment, rather than individual conclusions.
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Where you're born also dramatically changes how you see communication;
in the West, it is considered the responsibility of the SPEAKER to "do better" if there is a communication breaking down,
but in the East, It is considered the responsibility of the LISTENER to "do better".
What can these methods look like of "doing better"?
- asking questions to clarify what the other person meant
- asking questions to clarify what the other person missed or didn't understand
- rephrasing complicated concepts in everyday terms to ensure there is no misunderstanding
- putting the other person's statements into your own words to better absorb their message and confirm if there was what the other intended
- focusing on lip-reading or hard enunciation to ensure words are not missed
Note that pointing out these methods is not to say they are neuroaffirming techniques
but rather they are based on what is expected in neuronormative culture,
and some of them are more clearly neuroaffirming while others are ambiguous or not.
Information is processed differently based on how you need to access the data,
whether you need to get on board with the other person from a receptor angle or if it's from a communicator angle.
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Communication Methods and Adaptations
The way that you as a human being process received language and then communicate language is unique and, especially if you are neurodivergent, flavored by all your other neurodivergence.
- if you are autistic you may need communication delivered to you in such a way that is direct
- if you are dyslexic and learning a motor skill, there's a chance you may need to be near your instructor in a different direction than they'd normally teach so you can keep your body's orientation in alignment with theirs
- if you are epileptic and you're driving along a stretch of road with endless trees with gaps of sun coming through them, such that the speed of the car combined with the flickers of light becomes a trigger, you may need to stop communicating entirely to focus on orienting and accommodating yourself
- if you are deaf and overstimulated by your environment because visual stimuli affects you the most, sign language is not necessarily going to be the most accessible for you - you may instead need a tactile sign language, or prefer to use a combination of speech-to-text devices and learn to verbally communicate despite being deaf (for the hearies who don't know that, yes, this is a thing!)
- if you are ADHD and find noise is just too distracting to focus, you may opt into wearing headphones to minimize that distraction and provide stimulation while engaging in non-speaking communication methods like pointing and gesturing
I could provide a million examples where communication is affected, but you know me, this post is already going to be too long.
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How to Unmask our Communicative Needs
Well, there's a reason I put this one after sensory needs and processing needs! (And there's a reason social is coming last 😉)
As you saw in the examples above, they were tied to the others.
If you can think of a communication need that DOESN'T have anything to do with processing or sensory, absolutely hop in the comments and I'll give it an honorable mention here.
In other words...
learning about your communication needs will happen after you start to uncover the needs that are directly affected by the way you experience the world
..as opposed to the way the world experiences you 😳
Like how I mentioned earlier about the region where you grow up, the world that goes on around you while you grow, etc.
We will touch a lot more on this in Part 5.
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What Communication Changes Can We Enact?
- direct versus passive language
- spoken versus unspoken languages
- written communication instead of interactive communication
- communication that has no language element
- slower versus faster
- harder or clearer pronunciation
Sometimes people aren't able to meet these communicative needs we have...
and that's okay.
It does mean that part of unmasking communicative needs means acknowledging that the people in our lives may not be able to meet those needs,
and that may mean we push ourselves to continue masking for them because a mutual alternative can't be found,
or it may mean letting them go to find other people who can or do meet our communicative needs.
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When we allow our brains to sit in these communicative needs that go unmet,
we're really just putting off other needs in favor of masking...
a state that certainly is not ideal,
but in an ableist world where people DO take advantage of vulnerable people,
it can be necessary to protect ourselves.
Even if it means killing ourselves.
IT'S INHUMAN. It's not morally just or ethically right.
And it's why disability advocates fight so hard to have able-bodied people understand;
disability rights, protections, and advocacy create safety for ALL.
Because it's not a matter of "if you are or become disabled,"
it's a matter of WHEN.
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A person can only decide for themselves which communication adjustments are going to help them get their needs met,
and they're also the only person who can make the call as to whether it's worth the cost;
there is truly no right decision that can be made in this world that refuses to understand human needs.
We can only look at the relief that comes from accommodation and paying the ableist cost, and compare that to the masking cost that comes with a temporary feeling of safety through assimilation.
A question for you though, one that helped me really understand for myself that these two were NOT equal:
Are you really capable of assimilation?
Or did you just spend your entire life trying to assimilate, but still somehow ultimately failing in a way you couldn't quite figure out?
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Having this conversation with ourselves over the course of months and even years can help us understand what is potentially navigable and what is truly unable to be compromised...
Which will lead to shifting circles and environments.
It's a high cost, letting go of hobbies, environments, and people we truly care about
in order to hopefully build a lifestyle in healthier environments with better equipped people to help us...
and that's not a guarantee either;
you have to be willing to do a LOT of work to recognize that you might not be finding the neuroaffirming people to help you
if you have neuronormative mindsets, which are inherently ableist.
All this leading up into Part 5; Social needs
Stay tuned next Monday!
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How are you enjoying the series so far?
What communicative needs have you recognized for yourself?
Did it come as a result of your other needs, or did you accommodate your communication needs before you even realized your other ones?