Self-screener

Autism camouflaging screener

The Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). 25 questions, around 8 minutes. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere.

This is not a diagnostic tool. The CAT-Q measures camouflaging behaviours associated with autism — it does not tell you whether you are autistic. A high score does not confirm autism, and a low score does not rule it out. Always speak to a qualified clinician about your own health.

About the CAT-Q

The Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) was developed by Laura Hull, Will Mandy, Ming-Chi Lai, Simon Baron-Cohen, and colleagues at University College London and the University of Cambridge. It measures the degree to which a person engages in camouflaging — actively concealing or compensating for autistic traits in social situations.

The CAT-Q has three subscales. Compensation covers copying others' body language, developing social scripts, and learning social behaviours from observing people or watching television. Masking covers consciously monitoring and adjusting outward behaviour to appear relaxed or engaged. Assimilation covers trying to fit in and suppressing natural responses in social situations. There is no clinical cutoff — higher scores indicate more camouflaging.

Camouflaging is more common in autistic women, girls, and people with higher verbal ability. It is one reason autism is often identified later in life — camouflaging can conceal autistic traits during clinical assessment.

25questions
~8minutes
No data stored
Think about yourself generally — no specific time period Your answers are completely private — nothing is saved or sent

After completing the questionnaire

If your results suggest significant camouflaging, it may be worth discussing this with your GP — particularly if you have also scored above the threshold on the AQ-10 autism screener, or if you have longstanding concerns about autism that have not been explored clinically.

High levels of camouflaging can be exhausting and are associated with burnout, anxiety, and depression. If you are currently pursuing a formal autism assessment, it may be worth mentioning your CAT-Q results to your assessor — camouflaging can affect how autistic traits present during a clinical interview.

Also worth trying

AQ-10 Autism self-screener — for adults 10 questions · ~3 minutes Start screener → ASRS-v1.1 ADHD self-screener — for adults 18 questions · ~5 minutes Start screener →

Source and licence

The CAT-Q is published open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) licence, which permits unrestricted reproduction and adaptation with attribution. No additional permission is required to reproduce this questionnaire.

Citation: Hull L, Mandy W, Lai M-C, Baron-Cohen S, Allison C, Smith P, Petrides KV. Development and Validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 2019;49:819–833. DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3792-6

ADHD Scot is an independent, non-clinical information project. This questionnaire is not a diagnosis. Always speak to your GP or a qualified clinician about your own health.