Late Diagnosis, Masking, and Survival in a Neurotypical World with Chris Carazas

Chris is an author and late-diagnosed autistic adult. For decades, he believed he was broken. Productive, capable, outwardly successful, yet constantly exhausted and quietly unraveling, he learned to survive by masking, performing, and pushing through systems that were never built for the way his mind works. He suffered through burnout, psychological trauma, and a near-total collapse. His memoir, Now That I’m Still Here: A Memoir of Ruin and Resurrection, traces his reckoning with unflinching honesty. Alongside his writing, Christopher has spent years working in international development and social impact, helping organizations measure human value, dignity, and outcomes in places where lives are often reduced to numbers. Today, he writes and speaks about autism, masking, grief, faith, and belonging, offering language for experiences that are often misunderstood or ignored.