About this episode

Toni Borneo discusses her journey of unmasking as an autistic individual and the impact of developmental trauma and personality disorder on her life.

Toni Borneo was formally recognised as autistic two years ago, at age 42 - something that has saved and completely changed her life. For her, the process of unmasking uncovered complex, long term mental and emotional health issues. And more recently she realised that she has developmental trauma that has led to her having a personality disorder. Toni has spent her working life in health policy advocacy, first for a mental health charity, and now for a health trade union. She lives in Guildford in the UK, where she is currently discovering her unexplored creativity, building up her physical health, and enjoying going to local meet-ups for autistic adults. In our conversation Toni shares her experiences and knowledge of developmental trauma and personality disorder in autistic people – something that is heavily stigmatised and misunderstood in the autistic community, and that she suspects is actually very common – and the things that are helping her heal. Squarepeg is a podcast in which I talk to other late identified autistic women and nonbinary people about their lives, their autism journeys, and what they've learned along the way. I'm Amy Richards, and I was diagnosed autistic…

People in this episode

Host: Amy Richards

Guest: Toni Borneo

Topics covered

• autism
• unmasking
• developmental trauma
• personality disorder
• mental health
• advocacy
• creativity

Keywords

• autism
• unmasking
• developmental trauma
• personality disorder
• mental health
• advocacy
• creativity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: mental health charity, health trade union

Places: Guildford

More episodes of The Squarepeg Podcast

• 157 [S11 E12] Talking to strangers: podcasting my way into a late autism discovery · July 18, 2026 · 1h 7m
• 156 [S11 E11] Coming home to myself: feeling 'good enough', unmasking and moving towards self love · July 11, 2026 · 1h 6m
• 154 [S11 E9] Finding a really cool rock: figuring out life and work without an 'autistic starter pack' · June 13, 2026 · 1h 14m

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