Camouflaging Across Cultures: Autistic Chinese Students Navigating Belonging in Canadian Higher Education

• In Event: Identity, Belonging, and Marginalization in Educational Spaces

Proposal

Introduction and Theoretical Framing
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is clinically defined by persistent difficulties in social communication and interaction, alongside restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or sensory responses (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). While these diagnostic criteria emphasize observable behavioral differences, increasing attention has turned to how autistic individuals actively manage social expectations in everyday contexts. One widely documented strategy is social camouflaging: the effort to hide, compensate for, or mask autistic traits in order to appear more neurotypical (Hull et al., 2017, 2019). This includes modifying eye contact, suppressing stimming, or rehearsing social scripts to navigate neurotypical-dominated spaces.
Although camouflaging may temporarily facilitate social integration, it is also associated with long-term psychological costs, such as anxiety, identity confusion, and burnout (Lai et al., 2017; Cage & Troxell-White, 2019). Furthermore, camouflaging is not a uniform or isolated behavior; rather, it is shaped by cultural norms, expectations, and social environments. In this light, the experience and expression of camouflaging must be understood not only as a neurodivergent adaptation but also as a culturally mediated practice.
For international autistic students, these dynamics are further complicated by migration and educational pressures. Students from Chinese cultural backgrounds often navigate societies where autism is stigmatized or misunderstood, while striving to meet the demands of competitive academic institutions abroad. In Canadian postsecondary contexts, they may face tensions between upholding cultural values of academic excellence and emotional restraint, and negotiating their autistic identity within diverse yet often inadequately supportive environments. These intersecting forces create what we describe as a “double mission”—to belong and blend in, to meet both cultural and neurotypical expectations.
This study is guided by an integrated theoretical lens, combining the neurodiversity paradigm with acculturation theory. The neurodiversity paradigm reframes autism as a natural form of human variation, emphasizing the legitimacy of autistic ways of being and the need for social environments to accommodate difference (Singer, 1998). Within this view, camouflaging is not merely a deficit-driven compensation but a situated response to exclusionary norms. Acculturation theory (Berry, 1992) complements this by highlighting the challenges of cross-cultural adjustment. For students from collectivist backgrounds, such as Chinese contexts, cultural stigma around disability may discourage open disclosure or help-seeking, amplifying the emotional labor of camouflaging in unfamiliar academic and social environments.
Together, these frameworks inform our central research question: How do international autistic students experience and negotiate social adaptation, identity, and camouflaging in transcultural educational spaces? This study offers a nuanced understanding of how Chinese international autistic students manage visibility, stigma, and belonging within Canadian postsecondary education.
Methodology
This study draws on a pilot project exploring the social experiences of autistic students with Chinese cultural backgrounds in Canadian postsecondary contexts. Data were generated through two-round semi-structured interviews with ten autistic participants with formal diagnosis, including both international students and childhood immigrants. The interview guide was informed by prior qualitative research with autistic participants (Howard et al., 2019; Nicolaidis et al., 2015) and adapted for cultural and linguistic sensitivity. Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) was employed to identify patterns across narratives, with reflexive journaling and member checking used to enhance trustworthiness. Sources from critical autism studies and cross-cultural psychology informed both data collection and analytic choices, ensuring attention to epistemic justice and the sociocultural positioning of autistic voices.
Thematic Findings and Discussion
The findings revealed that camouflaging among autistic students with Chinese cultural backgrounds in Canadian higher education is a fluid set of adaptive practices shaped by cultural stigma, linguistic context, institutional structures, and emerging technologies. These practices reflect an ongoing negotiation of visibility and belonging in transcultural settings, where the risks and benefits of disclosure shift across interactions. Three central themes emerged.
Participants described language—particularly the strategic use of English—as both a social shield and a framing device. Speaking in English often allowed participants to attribute non-normative behaviors (e.g., flat affect, long pauses) to cultural or linguistic difference rather than autism, offering social protection from autism stigma. English was also a medium through which sensitive topics such as mental health could be expressed with greater emotional distance. However, this linguistic camouflage came at a cost: some participants found that communication challenges were misattributed solely to language barriers, leading to unmet support needs.
AI tools further extended this strategic self-presentation. Participants reported using AI systems (e.g., ChatGPT) to rehearse conversations, decode implicit Canadian social norms, and prepare for emotionally demanding or ambiguous interactions. This “double-layered” adaptation functioned across both neurodivergent and cultural dimensions: AI helped mitigate the risk of being perceived as socially awkward while simultaneously guiding students through unfamiliar individualistic interactional expectations, such as assertiveness or casual small talk. Yet for many, this technological support was a double-edged sword. While it reduced anxiety in high-stakes settings, it also reinforced dependency and heightened feelings of inadequacy when their “real” selves diverged from AI-generated models. This paradox reflects the ambivalence of AI as both a scaffolding device and a reproducer of camouflaging burdens.
Stigma emerged as a strong motivator for camouflaging. Participants described how autism was often misunderstood in their home cultures, associated with shame or failure. Some engaged in intensive masking that continued, even if differently, in Canadian contexts. Although Canada was generally perceived as more accepting, students remained vigilant, calibrating their behaviors based on perceived safety, institutional inclusiveness, and peer response.
Conclusion
This study offers an original contribution by illuminating how international autistic students from Chinese cultural backgrounds engage in multi-layered camouflaging that is both culturally and technologically mediated. By foregrounding the interplay of language, stigma, and AI tools, the findings extend current understandings of camouflaging beyond individual coping to a socially and structurally embedded process. We learn that camouflaging in transcultural educational contexts is not merely about blending in, but about navigating shifting norms of legitimacy, safety, and visibility across cultural, linguistic, and neurotypical expectations. This reframing challenges deficit-oriented perspectives and highlights the emotional labor and adaptive intelligence behind these practices. The study underscores the urgent need for culturally responsive, structurally inclusive environments that validate diverse modes of communication and identity expression and empower international autistic students.

Author

• Guangqian Grace Lyu, Simon Fraser University