The Mask You Wear, and how to Take it Off | Allison Spann | TEDxPrincetonU 

As someone who has severe ADHD I can firmly say this is false. Most people have a shallow understanding of the severity of impact that the chronically low dopamine levels of an ADHD brain has on daily life. Masking to hide the disability is for personal safety and well-being because people who don't have a common experience cannot understand what it is like to not be able to filter out irrelevant or unimportant information in your environment, for instance. They just see it as being easily distracted. They don't live through the chaos nor understand that the brain is lacking in a basic need and is developing coping mechanisms to get the bare minimum necessary amount of stimulus to be able to function by giving all sensory stimulus equal priority. That's a foreign concept to many, and it makes people uncomfortable to be completely unable to understand. You become an unknown experience. Thus you heard absurdities such as "need to be disciplined more" not understanding that its the brains inability to properly communicate between neurons, causing actual problems with motivation and self-control. They see laziness instead of someone lacking sufficient dopamine to the motor control function region of the brain causing an issue akin to paralysis. They don't understand and so they cannot emphasize. The mask is important to navigate society effectively, as a coping mechanism for those who are damaged or different. The mask should only come off when someone has proven sufficiently to be trustworthy to not reject you for being you. Society is rarely kind, especially when you don't fit into it's pre-shaped boxes. There is a reason the mask exists. Learn when to take it off. But wear it when you need it's protection.