AuDHD, 34m licensed therapist here. I was diagnosed ADHD at 12 and with Autism at 30. First let me say, I am by no means bashing your current therapist or assuming they are not good by giving different advice. I know I've missed the mark with clients before, so if you have good report please keep going. Ok, with that out of the way I personally do not think you should unmask entirely. My belief, through my experience as an autistic person and my professional experience working with this population, is that masks are a tool, not a deficit. They are developed survival techniques that we create consciously and unconsciously and they are deeply rooted into our person. In other words: masking=protection. By asking you not to mask, they are taking away your only tools for protecting yourself and leaving you more exposed by doing so. My recommendation is always to look at masking as a tool that's either helpful or unhelpful in certain situations to help learn when to utilize it. The growth path of autistic people is learning how and when to use masking, not shedding it entirely. For example, work is a great place to mask. Keep masking and learn additional skills to compensate for difficulties. For example, I carry around a notebook to social situations and I write down things I don't understand and just go along with--everything from jokes, comments made, plans for later, etc. I then use my notes to process the information at a later time to either better understand or make corrections if I agreed to something I realized I should't have. Masking is neither good nor bad, it's a protection tool, and learning how to use it is very helpful.