This quiz won't tell you whether you're autistic or ADHD. It will show you where your energy goes, and what your body is trying to tell you before it gives out.
Free tool · 16 questions · 4 minutes
What is your mask really costing you?
The price of always seeming fine.
You hold it together. You function. From the outside, it works.
And yet some days leave you wiped out for the next three, without you knowing why. You look for the cause in your calendar, your sleep, your discipline. Rarely in the invisible effort you put into seeming fine.
That effort has a name: camouflaging. And it comes with a bill.
This quiz shows you where your energy actually goes, and which signals your body sends before it gives out.
At the end, you leave with your profile, your three early warning signs, and a first version of your plan for the days when your brain is no longer available.
This is a tool for reflection and self-observation. It is not a diagnostic test and it does not replace a professional assessment.
Answer based on what happens most of the time.
One last step
Your tally is ready.
Where should I send it, so you can keep it? This is the kind of document that matters most on the day you aren't able to re-read it.
You'll get a confirmation email to click, then your tally. Your email is also used for my notes on how AuDHD brains work. You can unsubscribe at any time.
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Your tally
Where your energy goes
Your three early warning signs
Your body warns you. The problem is the volume.
It doesn't shout. It whispers, for a long time, before it shouts. And because you've learned not to listen, you only catch the message once you've already collapsed.
1. Language breaks down
You search for words. You lose the thread of a sentence you started. You understand what people say with a delay. This is often the very first signal, and the most ignored.
2. Sensory tolerance drops
A noise that was fine this morning becomes unbearable. The tag in your shirt. The light in the living room. You're not becoming difficult, your threshold is dropping.
3. Simple tasks become impossible
Answering a two-line email. Deciding what to eat. These aren't hard tasks. Your capacity to decide is already spent somewhere else.
If you recognize two out of three in your week, you're not at the start of the slide. You're in it.
Your Plan A and your Plan B
The trap is running on a single plan.
You have a manual for yourself when things are going well. You don't have one for when they aren't. So when your energy drops, you try to keep the same pace with a system that can no longer afford it. And that's when it breaks.
The answer isn't to aim lower permanently. It's to have two plans, and to know which one you're in.
Your Plan A carries your usual pace. Your Plan B carries one thing only, decided in advance, while you still have the head to choose it.
Your Plan B isn't a reduced Plan A. It's one thing, chosen in advance, that you can do even without access to your brain. One. That's exactly what makes it hold on the day you need it.
Write it somewhere you'll see it again. Because the moment you need it is exactly the moment you won't think to go looking for it.
What's next
You just did something few people do: you looked at the bill instead of avoiding it. What you have here is a first draft. It will sharpen as you watch your days for two or three weeks.
If you want to talk it through with me
A 30-minute connection call, no strings attached, to look together at what your tally brought up.
Book a connection callIf you're still questioning your identification
The Autistic Traits Screening is a short, guided process to validate your self-identification with a professional who knows the female presentation.
Explore the screeningIf you want to build your full manual
Les AuDAHcieuses is my 12-week program for AuDHD people assigned female at birth, 35 and up. We work on exactly what you've just started: early warning signs, energy accounting, Plan A and Plan B, and your own user manual.
Explore the programWhat is autistic masking
Masking, or camouflaging, is the set of strategies an autistic or AuDHD person develops to appear neurotypical. Holding back self-soothing movements. Forcing eye contact. Preparing conversations in advance. Saying yes when everything inside says no.
It isn’t a lie and it isn’t a conscious choice. It’s an adaptation learned very early, often before you even know you’re neurodivergent.
In women and people assigned female at birth, masking is particularly developed, and it is one of the reasons so many diagnoses come late, sometimes after 40.
Why masking is so exhausting
Masking requires you to control your body, your tone, your expressions and your reactions continuously, while you are doing something else. Your attention is permanently divided, with no break.
The bill doesn’t arrive right away. It arrives two or three days later, as a fatigue that a good night’s sleep doesn’t fix. That delay is what keeps you from making the connection, and what leads to autistic burnout.
Signs that your system is already paying
Three signals almost always come first in AuDHD people:
- language breaks down, you search for your words and lose the thread of your sentences
- sensory tolerance drops, what was fine in the morning becomes unbearable
- simple tasks become impossible, like answering a short email or deciding what to eat
Who this quiz is for
Women and people assigned female at birth who recognize themselves in an autistic, ADHD or AuDHD profile, whether diagnosed or self-identified.
This quiz is not a diagnostic test. It doesn’t measure autistic traits, it measures masking and its energy cost.
And after the quiz?
Your result gives you words. That’s already a lot. But knowing what your mask costs you doesn’t, on its own, change your week ahead.
Depending on where you are, here are three possible next steps. No rush: take the time to see what speaks to you.
You’re wondering if you’re autistic
The quiz measures masking, not autistic traits. The Express Screening helps you see clearly with validated questionnaires, a personalized report and a video meeting.
You want to get out of the “I give everything, I crash” cycle
Les AuDAHcieuses is a 12-week program, taught in French, for autistic and ADHD women. You build your Plan A and Plan B for real, with other women who function like you.
You’d rather have a space just for you
One-to-one coaching supports you at your own pace, on what feels alive for you right now.
Annie Lachance
Annie Lachance, creator of the quiz for autistic, ADHD or AuDHD women
My name is Annie Lachance. I’m autistic and ADHD, and I found out at 44, following my son’s assessment. I know masking from the inside.
A Professional Certified Coach (PCC, ICF) with a bachelor’s degree in social work and a former mental health worker, I have more than twenty years of experience in helping relationships. I designed this quiz from what I observe in the women I support and from the scientific literature on the subject, to help you spot what your body is trying to tell you before it gives out.
Annie Lachance’s credentials
My approach is grounded in ongoing training, recognized certifications and professional affiliations. I’m a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and a member of ICF Québec. I’m also listed in ADHD Girls’ registry of certified AuDHD practitioners and a member of the Académie des naturopathes et naturothérapeutes du Canada (ACNN).
Frequently asked questions about masking
Is autistic camouflaging the same thing as masking?
Yes. Masking and camouflaging both describe the same reality (in French, the usual term is camouflage).
Can this quiz tell me if I’m autistic?
No. It measures masking and its energy cost, not autistic traits. For a self-identification process, the Autistic Traits Screening is the appropriate tool.
Why am I exhausted after seeing people, even when it went well?
Because the effort wasn’t in the interaction, it was in the masking that came with it. A pleasant get-together can cost a lot if you spent two hours monitoring your body and preparing your answers.
How long does the quiz take?
About four minutes, sixteen questions.
What do I get at the end?
Your profile across three zones, your dominant masking axis, your three early warning signs, and a template to build your Plan A and Plan B.
Get your free guide (in French)
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