 past, it's taken me quite a while to learn social skills, to learn the emotional social skills that have helped me to get where I am today. I used to be incredibly introverted, shy, I masked all the time. When I got into my 20s I learned about autism, I started to unmask, perhaps I unmasked too much and I wasn't considerate of other people's feelings when I was speaking or doing something or behaving. Learning these social skills allowed me to be more aware of them and make my own decision about things. A lot of masking in most people's minds is social skills, things like making eye contact. I make eye contact but I don't do as much as most people and I'm comfortable with that and I'm happy to make a little bit of eye contact to make the other person feel like I'm interested in them and make the other person feel like I'm listening.