It’s a coping strategy where neurodivergent individuals – such as those like me with ADHD and autism – suppress their natural traits and mirror neurotypical behaviours to fit in and appear ‘non-neurodivergent’. Masking opened up a whole new world to me, without me even knowing I was doing it. I went from being bullied at school to in the top-tier popular group, all within a year. I was being invited round to friend’s houses because they wanted me there, not because their mum liked my mum. I realised no one else was taking the purpose of school as literally as I was (it is a trait of autism to think literally), they were focused on fitting in.