Dyslexics Mask More Than You Think (Signs You Didn’t Realize)

Do dyslexic individuals mask?

Absolutely — and often more than they even realize.

In this episode of Unmasking Dyslexia, we break down the hidden ways dyslexics mask in everyday life to fit into a world that doesn’t fully understand how their brain works.

From memorizing information and overstudying to using humour, perfectionism, and rehearsed conversations — many of these behaviours aren’t personality traits… they’re coping strategies.

In this episode, we explore:

•  What masking looks like for dyslexic individuals 
•  Why dyslexics often hide their challenges
•  The difference between masking and personality 
•  Common masking behaviours like: 
  •  Memorizing instead of processing 
  •  Overstudying to feel “safe” 
  •  Using humour or self-deprecation 
  •  Suppressing needs 
  •  Rehearsing conversations (social scripts) 
•  The “class clown” vs. “quiet achiever” patterns 
•  How masking impacts wellbeing and identity 

Many dyslexics grow up adapting to survive socially and academically, often without realizing it.

This episode invites you to pause and ask:
 How much of what I do is actually masking?

If you’re dyslexic — or support someone who is — this conversation can help bring awareness, validation, and a new lens to everyday behaviours.

👍 Like, subscribe, and share to help shift the narrative around dyslexia and neurodiversity.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Unmasking Dyslexia. I'm Carlene, your host, and with each episode, we challenge the story that surrounds dyslexia. We will explore the strengths, the struggles, and the science behind the dyslexic experience so that you can better understand yourself or someone you love. Who says dyslexics don't mask? Because guess what? They do. And they do it more than they may realize, and they definitely do it more than society does. Masking is something that everyone does to some level to try and fit in or feel accepted within their social environments, within their social worlds. And dyslexics are no different. Coming from a neurodivergent lens with dyslexia, dyslexants mask more than they realize. And when I was doing research into this for one of my upcoming courses, I realized how many of these I actually have done my entire life without realizing that I was masking. So I'm going to read them off to you here. And I want you to take note of how many of these you do yourself as a dyslexic individual. Memorizing. How many times do you memorize information just so that it's easy for you or easier for you to pull up? I know I memorize a ton of stuff. If I can't figure out information on the tip of my tongue, I start to panic, which then decreases my ability to even recall the information. Never mind, find my words. So memorizing is a form of masking for the dyslexic. Smiling and laughing. This is almost really about belittling ourselves. This is about making fun of ourselves. It's about trying to diffuse that we made a mistake, whether it was with saying the wrong word, mispronouncing the word, or having issues with recall. Overstudying. I can't even begin how many times this I could say this was me. In college, I would study all the time. A lot of individuals that know me say that I'm always studying and they think it's because I have this perfectionism. The reality is, is it's because I have a dyslexic brain. And to me, to be able to understand and find the patterns within the information and find the loopholes and what people aren't seeing in the whole big picture, and I can go on. Basically, I get sucked into the rabbit hole of whatever I'm studying. And I will overstudy that information. Because for me to walk into an environment, I need to calm my system by feeling that I have as much information as I possibly need in that moment. That is a form of masking to make it look like I have it's at ease for me to pull up this information and think nothing of it. But in reality, I had hours of research and studying behind me to get there. Excuses. How many of you use excuses? Oh, I can't even begin. How many times? Oh, I didn't get enough sleep. Oh, my brain and mouth aren't working. Oh, um, well, you know what I mean. Oh, I've heard of both ways. Oh, you know, making any of that. We make excuses for our dyslexic mistakes just so that people may not even necessarily notice or pick up that we're dyslexic. Because let's not kid ourselves, society doesn't think well of dyslexia because they haven't been educated enough to understand what it is. So we have two that actually um are almost contradictory to one another. One is a class clown and one is the quiet achiever. And in research, what we find is that these two seem to be a little bit aligned with gender. A lot of times, the class clown is linked to the male dyslexic, while the quiet achiever is linked more to the female dyslexic. She doesn't want attention brought to her. So she does her work very, very quietly. And so, because of that, she usually will become a late diagnosed dyslexic individual. You suppress your needs. This is, um, I think we all do it. Even though we need a different font, even though we need the information presented to us a little bit slower for our brains to actually absorb what we are taking in, we may not express that because that would cause issue or attention to ourselves that we are processing different than those around us. I mentioned that perfectionist, and that is another form of masking for the dyslexic that we basically overstudy or we work at something so well so that it just shows up that we um we know what we're doing. In reality, it's us upholding ourselves to some form level of perfectionism that doesn't exist. And then we have social scripts, it's rehearsing conversations. And now this is a little bit different because this isn't about social anxiety. This is about being able to find the right words and use them in a sentence that makes sense so that we sound educated. It's not about the anxiousness of the social engagement, it's about word recall and word formation and tying information together so that we're not creating a spider web of pattern making. We are creating more of a linear thought process. So I'm going to list them off really quickly at the end here, in case you missed them as I went along. We have memorizing, we have laughing and smiling, we have overstudying, we have excuses, we have the class clown and the quiet achiever, we have the suppression of needs, we have the perfectionist, we have social scripts. So don't tell me that dyslexics don't mask, because they do, and we do it almost daily, if not every time we engage with someone. If this episode resonated with you, know that you are not alone and make sure to share it with someone else who might need it. Through my work at All That I Am, I offer courses and coaching to help you reconnect with your strengths, your meaning, and your sense of mattering. There are links to what I offer in the show notes. And don't forget to follow the podcast so you don't miss what's coming next.