Mirroring accents in autism - Unmasking my autism

As I learn more about what I do when I mask my autism, I am learning that I can't help myself but mirror accents!
Thank you for watching and commenting! This is a shorter and less intense video for a change!

[@j-ivey]

Lol, I totally do this too.

[@erinb2887]

Yay You for sharing, thank you!🙏🏼💖 I'm late identified/diagnosed & worked as a speech therapist. I completely relate to what you're saying. Sometimes it's hard for me to not reproduce sounds in words that ppl say uniquely & I just realized that's masking! I do it freely at home but I never do it in public. Thanks for the insight.💓

[@TheGreatReveal]

I wonder if it is a bit of stim as well. It feels nice sometimes to mimic a word or accent.

[@Ohsqwheezle]

I’ve always done this and I’m 69 now. Not so bad when I lived in Glesca but more than a bit embarrassing when I was working in Birmingham with black people with West Indian accents. I don’t know I’m doing it until I’ve been doing it for 15 minutes or so. Even if I stop it soon creeps back. I never do it disrespectfully or to mock or even deliberately. I just love accents

[@Hermitthecog]

By contrast I make a deliberate effort not to mimic (even though I'm tempted), as there aren't many pronounced regional dialects in my area so there is no impulse or opportunity for immersion. That said, I still practice my second language exercises daily and do feel immediately compelled to reciprocate the dialect of any spoken material.

[@user-js5et3gc8q]

Very interesting Gina. I don't mirror accents now; at least I don't think I do. I do remember one incident over 40 years ago however when I was in a very distant state in the United States. I was surrounded by people with an accent that was very different from my own and I found myself mirroring that accent when I was socially overwhelmed. It was really embarrassing and I didn't understand why I did it. Do you think that it is related to echolalia or something? I do echolalia with my wife but she is pretty used to it. One time many years ago when I was in another state about 1000 miles from my home I had someone tell me what state I was from based only on my accent. Until that time I didn't realize that I even had an accent. Your video will have me thinking about accents all the rest of the day now.

[@TheGreatReveal]

That's really interesting, I've not considered it being related to echolalia, but I could see a connection there.

[@octopeople]

Maybe I'm getting confirmation bias because the subject draws attention to it, but you sounded much more Scottish than usual in this recording. I can't tell you if I adapt my accent to people around me - if I do, I'm not aware of it. Nobody can place my accent beyond northern-ish England. Sometimes people think I sound posh. I'm not posh. I like to hear different accents and dialects and ways of speaking, and it gets me tilted when people disparage others' native speech as wrong or lesser than their own.

[@TheGreatReveal]

Haha! Maybe I am inadvertently doing a more Scottish accent! If I am, then I didn't even realise.

[@jax_tekabe]

I pick up accents and phrases they say often as well. I get so embarrassed.

[@TheGreatReveal]

Oh yes, its incredibly cringeworthy when people realise you are mimicking them!