This talk contains discussion of suicide and mental health and contains a statistic on sexual assault.

We all filter ourselves depending on our social context, but Autistic individuals rarely have the privilege to turn that filter off. In this talk Leah Reinardy, Autistic advocate and educator, defines the concept of Autistic masking, why Autistic individuals learn to mask, the deadly consequences that come with that mask, and the struggles of learning to take that mask off. Leah is a junior at Hope College studying music and business. She is from Zeeland, Michigan. Leah wanted to become a speaker to encourage others who have a phobia of public speaking to raise their voices. She is the president of Hope Advocates for Invisible Conditions, a pianist in the Jazz Arts Collective, and a percussionist in the Wind Ensemble. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx