Special Interests?

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Right, you don't need all the traits to qualify for ASD, and I expect some of us don't have special interests any more than NTs do.

How it manifests means how the interest shows itself, such as me entering the stranger's backyard to watch the tree trimming without realizing, Hey, I'm literally trespassing. I was standing on their patio and didn't give it a second thought. I still can't believe I actually did that! I'd also jump into my car when I heard the distinct sound of a chipper in the neighborhood (they're super loud) and drive around to locate it. I never even noticed the sound until I began going SPIN on them. Or, if I heard a chainsaw somewhere, I'd go outside and see if there was a tree cutting going on. I even wished I had a part time job "chipping." I joined the arborist online community.

So these are examples. This definitely was in autism territory.

I've always had a propensity to become super focused on some new interest, or, as they were called in childhood, "phases." So many odd things that I'd take interest in, like window shades, the roller kind that you pull, and if you don't pull it down right, it'll fly back up. They rarely make this kind these days; they're considered vintage.

One of the traits that I don't have that most autistics have is meltdowns. Just never became that overwhelmed.

Although I said my interests were niches within a wider context it's not that they were eccentric, just more in terms of a career - as my interests have been things many people make careers out of but I've tried (without having a clue how) and failed to. The interests I've had, you can't just be average at to make a success out of yourself with. Or it could be I was setting my goals too high and selling myself far too short. I never made money out of them, but they'd cause me to be late for low paid jobs I hated due to staying up half the night to focus on them. I'd say they were special interests because I hyper-focused on them and they were constantly embedded in my thinking and being torn away from them caused me discomfort.

My romantic partners & one crush have been my special interests. Lots of people say that being obsessed with your partner is a bad thing because the obsession fades after a while & then you may not want to spend time with your partner or you may want to end the relationship because the attraction ends. However in my experience the obsession lasts till after the relationships end. I've been with my current girlfriend for 13 years now & it should be extremely obvious from my post history that I'm still obsessed with her. I think this example qualifies as a special interest but I don't think a romantic partner being a special interest is a bad thing if your partner is the same way or at least really likes your attention which Cass does

What's the difference between an autistic SPIN of a romantic partner and an NT deep-love for THEIR romantic partner? Isn't being "obsessed" with one's soulmate or love partner to be expected, as part of being madly in love? For instance my NT niece is obsessed with her husband because she's so much in love with him. Is there really a difference? Unless the obsession is when the autistic person constantly talks to other people about their love interest? As for obsession after a breakup, doesn't this occur to many NTs? In fact, it's even led to murder (I'm a true crime fan).

I had obsessions with people when I was a teenager and young adult. You might say that is normal, but to the extent of how my obsession was, it was embarrassing and took over my whole mind and life. I wasn't even that happy with the obsessions. It's like the obsessions chose me and I felt drowned in them. I was unable to think of or talk about anything else other than my obsessions, and I nearly got into trouble with the law for engaging in stalking behaviour (though I wasn't intending on any harm, I was just so obsessed). When I was a bit more mature (a young adult) I didn't do stalking behaviour so much but I got myself way too involved in the people I was then obsessed with (a different set of people than who I was obsessed with when I was a teenager). Since I've been with my boyfriend I haven't had any obsessions, just casual interests and hobbies. It's been almost 11 years since I last had an obsession and I don't miss it one bit. I feel free, and even normal.

If these aren't classed as special interests then I've never had special interests, just obsessive behaviours. I think the two are different. Special interests usually involve more intelligence and enjoyment, but my obsessions weren't intelligible or enjoyable. They were just a waste of time and got me nowhere.

The impression I have is that NTs tend to not get as obsessed with their romantic partners or their obsessions kinda mellow out after a while & if it doesn't it's unhealthy.

I am that guy who asks for definitions: what is a special interest?
In this case it would be interesting to know what people mean when they use that term when answering your questions.

Do I have an interest I think a lot about (that will be how I use that term in order to answer your question)? yes! I focus on communication styles and cognitive styles. I sometimes even listen more to the way people say something rather than what they actually say.
But many times this interest of mine come from frustration and not joy.

My IRL Best Friend Doesn't Really Have Any HUGE Special Interests. She's Interested In Cybersecurity, Beyblade, Pokemon, And The Webcomic "Check Please!", But She's Nowhere Near As Obsessive Of Them As I Am Over...WELL GUESS.

Anyways Judging By The Fact She Is Formally Diagnosed And Doesn't Have Any Big Special Interests, I Can Say With Confidence Not All Autistics Have Big Special Interests!

I’m into creative worldbuilding (fantasy/sci-fi), retro games, movie practical effects (especially miniatures), and puzzle-solving. There’s something super satisfying about diving deep into a niche topic and just geeking out over the details.

I don't know... But I can tell you instead why I think rc.d is the best Unix init system and how it is superior to sysvinit or that of systemd

My main interest all my life was comics. As a child it was Donald Duck comics by Carl Barks and Don Rosa and some other cartooning (Peanuts, Asterix, Tintin) that I spent hours copying from magazines. This in turn changed to alternative comics and drawing as a teenager.
I tried to pursue it as a job and did some illustration professionally, but it was really hard navigating this with all my mental health problems in my 20s.
It still is my special interest, but it has become slightly broader, independent and artist publishing, but it always goes back to cartooning and drawing.
But I keep getting smaller fixations that don't last that long.

My main interest is nostalgia. I'm not obsessed though, it's just a casual interest that would be my first answer if asked what I was interested in.

i think my adhd outweighs my autism so i have a number of special interests but I'd say my main special interest is "input". I have this craving to absorb data on everything and I've been like that my whole life. it makes it hard to become proficient at anything.

There are 3 Youtubers who seem to have closely overlapping interests to mine; they circle around the same sorts of technologies which I find myself continually returning back to:
- Jeff Geerling (in an alternate universe, we could have been twins)
- Chris Barnatt of Explaining Computers
- LeePSPvideo

So basically linux, Debian, computers, networking, servers, etc.

There is always some evolution happening amidst all that, which is interesting.

I don't think I'll ever grow tired of it, but I've gotten much better at *slowing it down*. I've gotten better at writing out an idea for a project, then sleeping on it, before proceeding. Or talking myself out of an idea, subjecting it to scrutiny: why would other people think this was a bad idea, such that the idea is actually quite whimsical or irrelevant?

So I've learned to cool down the obsessiveness, into merely an interest. The ability to put the idea down, then return to it later if it still seemed like a good idea, took me many years to develop - it was *really* difficult. Meditation in no small part helped me to do that, and it was a sea change in my emotional well-being - finding happiness and joy in the meditation - which allowed me to make that shift, and ease up the grip on the obsessiveness.