DiscoverASHA Voices‘This Too Is a Mask’: A Neurodivergent SLP Confronts Autism and Identity
‘This Too Is a Mask’: A Neurodivergent SLP Confronts Autism and Identity

‘This Too Is a Mask’: A Neurodivergent SLP Confronts Autism and Identity

Update: 2025-02-13
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Speech-language pathologist Jennifer Cripps-Ludlum says her entire life is a mask.


As an adult, she discovered she is neurodivergent. The revelation arrived at the 2023 ASHA Convention, during a presentation on recognizing the signs of autism in young girls. After a subsequent panic attack, Cripps-Ludlum asked the presenter this question:

“What do you do if you spend so much time masking that you don’t know who you are anymore?”


On this episode of the podcast, Cripps-Ludlum shares a personal history of masking. She shares the forms masking takes in her life, and the associated emotional and physical toll. Plus, she explains why she’s found herself someplace she never expected to return to … high school.


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‘This Too Is a Mask’: A Neurodivergent SLP Confronts Autism and Identity

‘This Too Is a Mask’: A Neurodivergent SLP Confronts Autism and Identity

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)