How autism and ADHD can mask each other: a thread.

Autism and ADHD can termorarily balance each other out and make them more invisible. This compensation can lessen with age and that's when they start to manifest more visibly (hence, late diagnosis). Let's see some examples.

Punctuality: ADHDers are known for being late. Whenever I meet someone, my autistic brain hates it when people make me wait; my empathy makes me reciprocate. So I'm always on time or early. This can lead to even being an early bird;

I get to work almost an hour early, due to a mix of factors: low traffic hour (lessens anxiety a lot), being able to park in the same spot every day (sticking to routines is soothing). All working against ADHD time blindness and tardiness.

Cleaning: similar to the previous point, I can't stand when people are messy in common spaces, which makes me be very clean in shared rooms but not my own. In my own space, it rotates between clean and organized and a mess (no 3rd party to compensate). Living alone is a challenge

Driving: precarious balance. ADHD's flash temper activates when someone's reckless on the road, which bypasses autistic panic/freeze response. That usually becomes impulsivity and speeding, for which autism can usually compensate a bit. Still, many coping mechanisms are needed.

Routines: it takes me forever to establish routines (ADHD), but once I do my autistic ass sticks to them like a lifeline. It helps with keeping routines, which ADHD makes hard. ADHD flexibility can help changing them (not always). Still, breaking them can result in a meltdown.

I'd love to hear from your experiences, since there's probably many more I'm not aware of!