Experiences of joining in, without assigning an identity.
The Assimilation part concerns fitting into interactions, feeling able to be yourself, support and discomfort. The eight-item sum records agreement after the published reverse keys. It does not identify autism, social anxiety, an ability level or a need to become more sociable.
Assimilation uses original items 3, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 22 and 25. Reverse items 3, 19 and 22 as 8 minus the response. All eight numeric answers are required for a sum from 8 to 56 and a mean from 1 to 7. A skip withholds this part and the total.
Participation as experienced by the respondent
- These statements cover experiences such as feeling that you are performing, needing support to socialise, trying to avoid an interaction, or feeling able to be yourself. The label Assimilation identifies this published group of items. It does not prescribe a goal of fitting in or approve pressure to conform.
- The answers are not an observer’s record of participation. Needing support is not a failure of independence, and preferring less contact is not a moral shortcoming. The score cannot determine how much contact a person should want or which form of participation suits them.
Three reverse keys and a worked example
- The original reverse keys are items 3, 19 and 22. For them the recoded value is 8 minus the response; the remaining five use the selected 1–7 value. Eight midpoint answers give 32 and a mean of 4.00, without placing the respondent in a clinical category.
- All answers of 1 give 26, and all answers of 7 give 38. These examples check the reverse scoring, not desirable answer patterns. The unrounded sum is divided by eight for the displayed mean. Neither the sum nor the mean is a probability, percentage of symptoms or measure of functioning.
Reading the quoted word “normal”
- Item 25 retains the source’s phrase about pretending to be “normal”, including its quotation marks. It asks whether that description fits your experience. This page does not define a normal kind of person, treat difference as a defect or demand that you meet a social standard.
- You can disagree, choose any other agreement response or explicitly skip the item. You need not explain that choice or identify yourself as autistic or non-autistic. A single answer, like a part sum, cannot establish an identity or decide whether someone is being their real self.
A situation does not explain its cause
- Someone might find a group event easier with a familiar person nearby and still feel that conversation is effortful. The items can record agreement with related experiences. They do not establish whether the setting, language, anxiety, unfamiliarity or another factor accounts for the responses.
- The 2025 construct-validity study reported overlap between some Assimilation items and related anxiety or social-experience content. That finding does not turn the part into an anxiety test. It is a reason to avoid treating its number as a unique signal of autism or a complete explanation of discomfort.
How this differs from the other two parts
- Compensation concerns learned strategies, and Masking concerns attention to presentation. Assimilation brings in feelings about joining in and being yourself. Their meanings can relate, but a person is not assigned to one of three exclusive types, and one part does not invalidate another.
- Compensation has nine items while this part has eight, so their raw sums have different ranges. Means share the 1–7 response scale but do not establish an equally calibrated comparison. No dominant part, total-to-autism conversion, population rank or diagnostic cutoff is calculated.
Support without compulsory exposure
- If useful, privately consider what makes an interaction feel more manageable: a clearer plan, a quieter setting, a trusted person or permission to leave. These are examples for reflection, not instructions or treatment claims. No new exposure, eye contact or disclosure task is required to use the guide.
- There is no target number to reduce. The developers’ 2026 public perspective cautions against intervention monitoring with CAT-Q. Your needs can be discussed on their own terms with a qualified professional if you wish, without first proving a high score or demonstrating improvement on a repeat attempt.
Incomplete parts and the working translation
- One explicit skip withholds this part and the overall total; complete other parts remain available. All guides can be read even if all statements are skipped. Missing responses are not estimated, so a smaller set is not presented as the original complete eight-item readout.
- The Chinese text is a new working translation without established validation or English equivalence, and no external norms are imported. Public links carry no private score. Answers clear on refresh, language change, leaving, clearing or retaking; this page builds no account history or treatment timeline.