Fawning, Masking, and Working as an Intimacy Professional on the Autism Spectrum

Abstract

Though a common stereotype about people on the autism spectrum is that we lack empathy, the often-ignored reality is that we have a greater capacity for compassion than our neurotypical peers; the nature of the job as an intimacy choreographer is that they hold tremendous empathy for the most vulnerable people in the room. Therefore, we may have an innate advantage for qualification to work in that position. How do we adjust our ingrained societal expectations of what a person on the autism spectrum is capable of so that young neurodiverse artists growing up may see that they are equally capable of working in this field?