Aspergers and special interests

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This is seen as typical behaviour for people with AS but can't everyone have perculiar interests? How do you distinguish those of aspergers sufferers from everyone else giving examples?

I have quite a few interests and some of them are perculiar. I wouldn't imagine most people would have such interests. They are more likely to be chatting and having a coffee for half an hour, something which would bore me intensely 99% of the time. For instance i have been reading and taking notes of all the issues of a scientific journal since a few years ago. Even the ads i read. Its kind of related to my job but its not mandatory, its more a way to learn and pass the time when i have less work.

Another is i have an obsession with exploring. I try to visit all the towns and villages in my region and if i visit relatives i do the same in their region.

When i go on holiday i plan very meticulously what I'm going to do.

I like to do video editing in my spare time and have been working on one project for nearly two years. I am also quite rigid in my routine of working on these projects.

Special interests don't have to be weird or unusual. They just have to be a strong interest or obsession that is of high importance, I believe. They might disrupt other aspects of your life, or take over other aspects of your life, or be like addictions.

Mine are music and the internet. Nothing unusual about those (though the internet one certainly made me stand out in the pre-mainstream internet times, before everyone used it regularly). And they're also quite broad.

A reply from lancashire. I grew up in lancashire but i have lived elsewhere much of my adult life. Small world.

When described like that i find it hard to tell aspergers apart from persons with obsessive interests without the disorder.

I discussed it briefly with the psychologist a few weeks ago and i understand it'll be covered in greater depth the next time we meet. It's an area that confuses me though. I have various syrong interests but would they take over my life and interfere with my work I'm not sure. My main symptom is that i am socially impaired and it isn't something that can be attributed to shyness or anxiety. If i don't have aspergers then i haven't got a clue what my problems could be referred to as.

Special interests have always been my main autistic trait. My parents were never really eye contact Nazis, but I had to fight them tooth and nail to let me talk about meerkats. Some of my special interests I was never really comfortable discussing with just anyone. Certain special interests were for certain people. Meerkats for my parents and immediate family (despite the hell I caught for it as a kid. It didn't teach me meerkats were "unsafe", it just taught me that meerkats were the only thing that was safe). When I was a kid I would freely talk about my special interests with anyone who was willing to listen. Now, I only talk about them with people who ask. Like the other day when I was literally surrounded by people asking me all kinds of questions about kennel cough. I can't monologue, I have to be prompted and I will give you the shortest answer possible but I will answer your question if you ask and if I know the answer. I don't mind being asked...that is if I know you're genuinely curious about the topic and not just trying to have a random conversation with me. Random conversation I can't do very well.

Meerkats appear in the YouTube.com video "I Am Me" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHnssahA-YI ). Hehe.

I've known NTs to have special interests, like with football, music, hiking, etc. Some even look for jobs related to their interests. It is quite normal. But I think they know when to talk about their interests and when to stop. Also a lot of Aspies pursue their interests alone, whereas if an NT pursues something alone it's usually just a mild hobby. NT 'special' interests are usually shared with friends or family or whatever.

When I was aged 11 to 24, I had various obsessions and I relied on them to make my life feel less lonely and more interesting. But since I met my boyfriend (I've been with him since I was 24) I seemed to have lost interest in what I was obsessed with, and the obsessions have turned into just mild interests. I do finally feel rather free not having an obsession filling up my mind. My obsessions used to run my life and I kind of lived in a fantasy world. Now I have a boyfriend I am basically obsessed with him, and I don't need to fantasise any more.

it is not an aspie trait to have a special interest, all kinds of people, NTs etc have them. The differences with aspies are 1) sometimes taking the interest to an extreme or encyclopedic depth and 2) going too far in depth about one's interest when speaking to others in social situations, which is a socialization issue and not really relevant to the interest itself.

Just the ceramic ones in the garden or actual meerkats?

My main special interests are animals (particularly cats), literature, history, geography and tennis. Many of these are not at all unusual for women. I would just consider my interests more intense than usual.

Many of my interests are very odd. For example, my love of vintage computer graphics systems.

It's not the fact they we have an interest, it's the passion and obsession we have for it. I know when I have a new special interest because people tend to tell me to shut up when talking about it When I started climbing, I researched the hell out of it (every spare minute for several months on the internet, buying books, subscribing to magazines, friending professional climbers, going to talks by famous climbers); I bought way too much gear, especially for a beginner; I talked about it to everyone; I tried to get everyone I met to take it up; I climbed several times a week; When I took my daughter to her climbing lessons, unlike the other parents, I was always stood with the kids helping them and advising them. Because the owners realised that they couldn't stop me, they ended up making me an instructor which I've done for the last 5 years (I'm off to teach in 10 minutes).

I was the same with free-diving, archery, hunting etc.

[edit] That's not to say that there isn't crossover. Non-AS people can still get obsessed but it's considered weird and unusual. Think of those Tom Jones (or insert any other musician) fans who follow him around the globe throwing panties at him. They're thought of as so weird that they end up on chat shows.

What kinds of interests did you have before your boyfriend?

I do think its something that isn't limited to people with aspergers but perhaps its a more common trait on the autism spectrum. There are obviously NT people who are very dedicated to a particularly hobby or profession and excel. I wouldn't say i was as dedicated as those people, but i have tended to be very dedicated to a particular hobby for a few months before ditching it for something else. As i described in my OP, i don't consider my daily routine typical of someone without aspergers.

I don't have "special interests". I'm bored out of my mind all the time!

My special interests are very strange right now. Germany, WWII, warfare in general, German helmets. Those are also some of the interests that I had when I was young. If I would have stayed true to myself even after finding out that Munro is a British last name, my life would have taken a different turn, for the better. Maybe I would have lived in the present and for the future instead of finding out about the music of The British Invasion and living in a time warp for most of my life. I would have listened to Top 40 every Sunday while listening to classical music. Perhaps I would have been more futuristic in my choice of clothing and hairstyles. I would have also experimented with the colours - red, black and gold finding different ways to make them look classy, and they are classy colours. On the other hand, I found out about The Kinks and I'm glad I did. They speak to me the way that no other rock band does.

I prefer living in the past. As Damon Albarn sang- "modern life is rubbish"

What's done is done and I did have a lot of fun. I guess that I wanted to make myself blend in with the rest of my family. Things were hard when I went back to my true ways last year and I guess that's why I have regrets.