Full Spectrum Agency - Massachusetts Chapter

This discussion session will be focused on the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Unmasking for Life!

Join us for our autistic/neurodivergent book club meeting! The book for January/February 2026 is a repeat book "Unmasking for Life: The Autistic Person's Guide to Connecting, Loving, and Living Authentically", by Devon Price, Ph.D.

This meeting was canceled last year due to unforeseen circumstances, but we are hoping to finally have a discussion. We are planning to run our book club a bit different from what you may be used to seeing.

Instead of reading the entire book for each meeting, now we are going to split up each book by section(s) or chapter(s) to make reading easier for everyone to participate and catch up (if needed), especially if someone may a busy schedule, have executive functioning difficulties with planning, concentration, memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, attentional control/concentration, etc. This will also allow us to go further in depth on the books we are reading.

We will be planning to meet twice monthly. First, we will be holding a "body double style" meeting where we spend time together silently reading what will be discussed at a later meeting. The second meeting will be a discussion about the reading. Reading is still not required to join us; everyone is welcome at either or both meetings! Our body doubling reading session for this meeting will be held virtually on January 30th at 5pm!

## About Unmasking for Life

Most masked Autistics have spent a lifetime being told how to perform neurotypically: how to behave, how to carry themselves, what to feel, and how to live. With his previous book, Unmasking Autism, Devon Price, PhD, has given them the space and the tools to unmask and embrace their neurodiversity. But no matter where you are in the unmasking process, there is still work to be done. Unmasking is more than just a personal process of self-acceptance, after all—it also requires figuring out how to move comfortably throughout life building friendships, nurturing family, pursuing love, finding a means of survival, and expressing oneself on one’s own terms. In order to live a brilliantly unashamed Autistic life, you need more than internal healing—you need practical tools of assertiveness and interpersonal effectiveness, and solutions to the problems of ableism and inaccessibility.

Enter Unmasking for Life, which provides the resources to help you advocate for your needs and invent new ways of living, loving, and being that work with your disability rather than against it. You’ll learn how to develop five key skills for living unmasked in all areas of life:

• Acceptance of change, loss, and uncertainty
• Engagement in productive conflict, discussion, and disagreement
• Transgression of unfair rules, demands, and social expectations
• Tolerance of distress, disagreement, or being disliked
• Creation of new accommodations, relationship structures, and new ways of living

Unmasking for Life will help validate and support you so you can move beyond unmasking your Autism and begin unmasking your world.
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About the Author: Devon Price, Ph.D.

Devon Price, PhD, is a social psychologist, professor, author, and proud Autistic person. His research has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and the Journal of Positive Psychology. Devon’s writing has appeared in outlets such as the Financial Times, HuffPost, Slate, Jacobin, Business Insider, LitHub, and on PBS and NPR. He lives in Chicago, where he serves as an assistant professor at Loyola University Chicago’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.