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MathGirl
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02 May 2010, 11:43 pm

So, my special interest is Asperger's/autism. It's been going strong for more than a year now. I was hoping that it would branch out into general psychology, but it hasn't. And I feel increasingly ashamed of it. I think I often get ignored when I request to be someone's friend on Youtube because they look through my favourites, see that most of them are videos about ASD, and think, why did this weirdo add them and why is she so interested in pervasive developmental disorders.

Do you think this is a strange interest for me to have? To what extent do you think it's appropriate for me to be open about it?


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pumibel
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02 May 2010, 11:49 pm

No I don't think that is weird at all, and I don't think it is the reason your requests are denied. Are you requesting to be friends with total strangers? If so they may suspect you are a spammer. They might not even look at your account and just deny the request. I would not get upset about this because there is nothing wring with your interest. It is what it is and you are not hurting anyone.



MathGirl
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02 May 2010, 11:55 pm

pumibel wrote:
Are you requesting to be friends with total strangers?
No, I request to be friends with people I've been a subscriber of for a long time. And they have Asperger's, too. I'm just using this as an example, because it's easier to see when people are ignoring me, and to figure out why they're ignoring me, online than it is in real life.


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pumibel
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03 May 2010, 12:05 am

Oh I get you, but I still couldn't tell you why they ignore you. I still cant see your special interest as a cause. It is also one of mine though too. Maybe I am biased. It is just very specific, not weird.



pensieve
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03 May 2010, 12:35 am

A lot of people here probably have an interest in autism/asperger's. I know I have and a few years ago I was really interested in it.


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03 May 2010, 12:48 am

Why would it be weird? I think just about every psychologist is interested in those disorders. I think people use the word weird too much. If someone calls you weird because of an interest then you shouldn't be talking to that person anyway.



tenzinsmom
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03 May 2010, 12:49 am

This is one of my special interests, too.

I don't think there's anything to be ashamed or embarrased of.

Autism Spectrum Disorders are a hot topic in the public domain right now and of special interest to
many people including: researchers, neurologists, parents/family members of children with an ASD, youth/adults with ASD.


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IdahoRose
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03 May 2010, 1:02 am

From my observations, it seems that a lot of people develop an interest in ASDs when they get diagnosed with one. So no, I don't think your interest is weird at all. :)



pschristmas
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03 May 2010, 1:25 am

MathGirl wrote:
No, I request to be friends with people I've been a subscriber of for a long time. And they have Asperger's, too.


Do you send them a quick note introducing yourself and explaining why you want to be friends with them? I get the occasional friend request on the couple of websites I'm on with this feature, but always I reject them if they don't send a note introducing themselves.



one-A-N
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03 May 2010, 1:31 am

You say these people are folk that you have been a subscriber to, but they are still strangers, aren't they? They are not people you know in real life?

Personally, I wouldn't accept someone as a Facebook friend that I don't know in real life - in fact, I don't even accept all people that I know in real life. I don't want random Facebook friends, I just want to keep in touch with real friends and close relatives on Facebook - people I know and like, but don't get to see face to face all that often (e.g. my brothers, nieces and nephews).

My aim is to have few Facebook friends, not heaps. I cannot see the point in "keeping up with" people I don't actually know and care about. Mere acquaintances are not people that I want to have cluttering up my wall on Facebook.

So, maybe the people you request friendship with on Facebook are curmudgeonly people like me, who cannot see the point unless they know you personally. And that means it is nothing personal about you - they might just be Aspies who don't like Facebook all that much, or only like it for very specific things.



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03 May 2010, 3:28 am

I don't think it's a strange interest to have at all. Ever since I have known about Asperger's/autism I have been interested in it. When I first started learning about it I was kind of obsessed. I wanted to read as much as I could about Asperger's, and find out as much as I could about it in order to understand myself better. I was also fascinated by other people with autism/AS. After years of looking for some kind of answer as to why I am the way that I am, I had finally found something that helped me to make sense of things that had made no sense before; things that I had felt a lot of shame and confusion over. In the circumstances, I think it would be more weird not to be interested.



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03 May 2010, 3:29 am

I don't think that's a weird interest at all.


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Gigi830
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03 May 2010, 4:26 am

IMO no special interest it too weird. As long as you find it interesting :)


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03 May 2010, 4:59 am

It'd come under the "narrow" part, as it's only a specific part of a larger whole (it sounds like "parts of objects" too for an adult). You're interested in one portion of psychiatry/psychology.

That's typical of the specific area of interest for people with an ASD. It'd be less typical to be interested in the whole of psychology/psychiatry in my mind, as that's a large field of vastly differing subjects.



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03 May 2010, 5:02 am

I've also developed a sp.interest in ASDs as well this past year and a half, it's actually become my main one. And also this site has become a sp.interest as well.
It's not weird I don't think, it might be a bit embarrassing to talk to about (tis for me) but there's nothing bad about it. A weird special interest would be something like serial killers and torture chambers, not ASDs.


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03 May 2010, 5:59 am

My dad and I are both NTs and are very interested in Asperger's. For me I do have a general interest in Psychiatry and especially cognitive development. I did well in those subjects in college and have been considering going back to school to get a master's degree in something along those lines. That interest predates my becoming the mother of three kids with ASDs, though since their birth my focus has shifted more to ASDs. My Dad is a lawyer and likes to read a lot. Since my eldest was diagnosed (a couple years before the other two were) he's been reading everything he can get his hands on about it. Right now it's a hot topic. It's even a little chic.