has anyone made you feel guilty about your special interests

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They did? I'm sorry to hear that.

For what it's worth, I really like My Little Pony, and I thought Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland was awesome! I went to see it when it came out in theaters a couple years ago. My dad and stepmom said they liked it too.

I am sorry about that. I think "My little pony" characters are cute. I did not like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, but if you did good for you.

I studied anthropology in college and wanted to focus on folklore, especially folk remedies and applied science. An anthropology professor told me dismissively that everything about folklore has already been done, and no one studies it anymore. Killed my goals. I'm surprised I even finished college after that.

No, and I consider it to be our power, provided we harness it correctly into a career.

From my opinion its not about good or bad movie or good or bad interest, its just about being happy with it.

God damn, i think "Sissi" is the worst film ever, my stomache comes up after 5 minutes watching it. Still i like the film, because there was a very old neighbor whom i brought the newspaper when i was younger. When she got older she got a brain "attack" (?), she didnt recognize me and many other people afterwards, could not talk any more and she was so often afraid and crying because she could not understand what was going on around. One day, when i was visiting, she sat before the television and she had such a huge smile on her face, and seemed to be totally lost and totally happy in the same place.

That doesn´t change my personal opinion that "Sissi" is crap, but the fact that its crap for me doesn´t change i´m happy that it exists, to make other people happy. (As long as noone forces me to watch it. ^^)

As long as these things make people happy, how can they be useless? If so, then being happy would be useless. If other peope think its so great being unhappy, then they have my best wishes for a very unhappy usefull life. ^^

Yes, I met people like that. For example, one of my elementary school teacher, that thought I was a cruel person because I was interested in volcanoes and earthquakes.

One of my medical fascinations as a preteen was Rett Syndrome. My dad informed me that my screaming during a meltdown was me imitating people with Rett Syndrome, because I wanted the disability. Gee, even I didn't know that about myself.

I've been quite lucky with parents to be honest. When I was completely and totally obsessed with Pokémon, Mum just got on with it! Thankfully at the time I was obsessed (aged 9-12), it was seen as a socially acceptable obsession and I gained a bit of a cult gathering at school because of it!

Later though, in the teenage years my brain decided not to keep up with everyone else (and why should it have?). My interests were Futurama and rabbits. I would talk and talk and talk about these two subjects. Mum got frustrated sometimes because I would say I needed to chat (usually about something serious) but would end up quoting something. The other teens at school laughed at my rabbit obsession and said it was 'retarded'. If I talked about rabbits near them they would talk about killing rabbits because they knew it would upset me.

I too went through what some might call an 'innappropriate obsession' with the Chernobyl disaster. Even to this day Chernobyl and other natural and not so natural disasters fascinate me. I suppose I am able to switch off the emotional side of it (like people dying) and I am more interested in the physical side. I think the abandoned town of Pripyat near Chernobyl is fascinating but I don't really think about the people who's lives were ruined that day. I suppose that can make me seem a bit heartless

LtlPinkCoupe, Ilka and Schneekugel - Thanks so much for your support! I am pleasantly surprised by the responses I have gotten. I feel much better knowing that there are people here who support me and my interests.

Oh yeah forgot to add. I don't personally like MLP or Alice in Wonderland but I would never tell someone that they were wrong for liking it. Some people can be so mean.

I know this is getting repetitive but I also want to say that especially on a site like this which is meant to support people with ASD's making someone feel bad about their interest is a really rotten thing to do! It's very judgemental and arrogant. I'm sorry someone did that to you.

I've said this before also but I like MLP as well (although it's not a special interest for me).

People have unintentionally made me feel guilty about my preoccupations.......my mom does this but it's because she worries that I'd be happy just reading my books and not do what I need to do to look after myself and be independent (once I move out on my own)........it scares her. Sometimes it scares me too......only I usually don't think about it......because I'm usually thinking about my interests. Also she gets sick of hearing about my books and my courses (not just special interest things) because I give "too much information" when I talk about them.

Im new so bear with me (bare? bear? confuzzled).

My special interests are video games and fantasy art / films. My mother was always very supportive of this growing up and encouraged certain elements of it, but my father was deeply opposed to both and considered them a waste of time. As such now in my 30's - "those stupid games" and "sitting on that stupid computer all your life" is the reason that i hold no job, and am a failure in his eyes.

For info, ive been married before, had a son, been divorced, now with new partner and have 3 year old baby girl who is happy as a lark - i have never had an interest in working and until recently was unaware that i should have to actually create relationships with anyone outside of my 3 person triangle family unit.

Im also happy with my life and whats in it. For some reason i dont feel like a failure, but apparently thats because i live in a bubble and need to "break out" into the real world. I was blissfully unaware that apparently im not in it already.

Oh yes, absolutely. Particularly so if the interest is not one that lends itself easily to a future career. I like reading and collecting fiction novels, I also like playing and collecting video games. Both of these things were met with derision by my parents. They were happy when I started reading so much so early, but then it turned. Suddenly they said I was reading too much. I never understood it.

Interestingly, I encountered this same resistance with my niece and her parents (her father is my brother). She has PDD. She has catalogue encyclopedic knowledge about the Pokemon animated television series. Her parents expressed opinion that it was "getting out of hand". I don't understand. Her schools grades are fine. She has been able to make a few friends and is far more comfortable socially than I am. I think she's doing great. But I get the impression her parents might be making her feel bad about being so interested in Pokemon.

It's 'bear'. The root being 'bear' defined as to hold/support, to carry in the mind. Saying "bear with me" means, stay with me while i explain my position, do not dismiss it before I have finished OR do not dismiss it due to my inexperience ( bear defined as 'to have tolerance for'). Like that. It's one of the more confusing bits of the english language.

edit---- Sometimes people react negatively if I give too complete an answer to a question they specifically asked me. Take my mother again; i came to her apartment to see her once and she expressed disappointment at the quality of her coffee maker. Now, recently I have done a lot of research and experimentation about coffee brewing techniques, so I told her how better coffee might be made in her apartment for reasonably low cost. You need freshly roasted beans, a adjustable burr grinder, an aeropress or french press or manual pourover style funnel, you need a scale to measure the exact quantity of beans to water ratio, you must brew along a specific timeline so that your temperature remains as consistent as possible, you need to preheat your coffee mug. It's best if you have a bottom spout style kettle for better pouring control if you intend to do the pourover route. etc. She told me "nevermind" before I even got started. I guess she would rather have her shitty coffee?

Sadly ASD doesn't make people immune to picking on others about their special interests.