08/18/2025
By Joseph Veneziano

The School of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences is pleased to announce a doctoral dissertation proposal defense by Joseph Veneziano entitled "Behind the Mask: A Multimodal Look at Contextual Factors Surrounding Autistic Camouflaging."

Tuesday, August 26
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Via Zoom

Committee:
Ashleigh Hillier, Ph.D., Chair
Urmitapa Dutta, Ph.D.
Alice Frye, MPH, Ph.D.
Anita Li, Ph.D., BCBA-D

Abstract:
Autistic camouflaging – where an Autistic person uses a number of different tactics to hide Autistic traits to appear neurotypical – has become a significant topic within the Autistic and research communities. Autistic people may engage in camouflaging in order to gain and maintain friendships, romantic relationships and/or employment. However, camouflaging is often associated with negative psychological effects, such as burnout, anxiety, depressive symptoms and suicidality. Given the relatively recent proliferation of research on camouflaging, more work needs to be done in order to fully conceptualize contextual factors related to the concept. This three-project dissertation proposes to provide an understanding of the contextual factors surrounding Autistic camouflaging using diverse methodologies. First, I propose to create an anthology of Autistic camouflaging with other Autistic people using an arts-based approach for the purposes of understanding how contextual factors surrounding camouflaging can be expressed through a variety of artistic means. Second, the amending of an existing psychological measure, the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q), will be conducted to provide opportunities for quantitative self-report of contextual factors surrounding camouflaging. Third, I propose to extend camouflaging research to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), creating a training program for Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) to identify and understand camouflaging within the context of video vignettes using a teach back model.