ASD as a special interest

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Somewhat. I read what several sites on the internet had to say about autism and Asperger's. My interest in it waxes and wanes. It sounds silly and improbable, I look for case studies and hope one is exactly like mine.

Yes seemingly no one loves talking about ASD as much as me. So I have all these imaginary talks in my head with people I know informing them all about autism.

Neuropsychiatric disorders and their biochemical causes began as a special interest for me shortly after I was first evaluated for anxiety at age 15 1/2. Out of the broad category of "neuropsych disorders", my special interest really lies with bipolar disorder (specifically, psychotic mania in bipolar I), OCD, and AS. Ironically, it was my AS special interest in neuropsych disorders that led to me correctly self-diagnosing myself with OCD. (I was officially diagnosed with OCD at age 17.)

I became interested in AS after my diagnosis at age 18 1/2, but my interest in AS really only lies in the special interests and the potential differences between AS and autism/HFA. The special interests fascinate me greatly, and that's really the reason I continue to come on this forum- to hear about others' special interests and see the vast range of topics. I went through a phase of about a year-and-a-half or so after I was diagnosed with AS where I was interested in ASDs more as a whole, but this was just me being relieved to find out that there were others like me.
-OddDuckNash99-

you're definitely not alone in this. me too, and i've read a few other similar threads.

Same here. The weird thing is that like a few others have said in this thread, I have a difficult time saying it out loud. I can read about it, type about it, and think about it all night, and day, but I can't seem to say it. While I can say the word Asperger's (it's difficult, but I can say it) I can't say autistic when referring to myself. I don't know why.

same here too. I had one of those "informational lectures" with an imaginary person in my head yesterday but I hadn't noticed that thefirst time I read though these responses. But I also freeze when trying to talk to a human about it, and resist the word "Asperger's" .. Although I will write about it at length.

I don't stop people in the street but I do talk about the subject with people I know. I think it's interesting and there's a lot of misinformation out there to clear up. If I'm boring them then they'll just have to deal with it.

Yep, and I actually got interested in the brain (my overarching special interest) because of my interest in autism. My friends aren't interested in talking about autism much with me, and they think I'm weird because half my bookshelf is on autism & Aspergers. But here, I can talk about it to my heart's content, and learn from other people who know a lot more about it than I do!

Just out of curiosity, why is Asperger's hard to say? I still don't quite understand.

I'm fairly interested, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a special interest of mine. Whenever I have to write a paper for a psychology class though, it's almost always related to ASD as much as I can manage. I feel like this may have been an interest instigated by my mother originally, who would often talk about it, and all the downsides and upsides and how all the special education teachers are morons and what they should be doing that they aren't, etc.... And when my mom gets all interested and ranty about things like that, I tend to get interested too. I think she's may have mild AS also, but was never diagnosed. Yes though, it is interesting to me, but it seems like it's in that proxy sort of way, that things that my mother raves about start to interest me. This is rarely a strong or profound interest (any thing you could possibly call an SI) if that is the only cause of it in me. Usually the things she gets me interested in are facets of and phenomena within the field of psychology. >.>

Well, for us I think that having a child on the spectrum opens that door to acceptably chat about it. I do get to talk about autism on a regular basis to a lot of different people, but it's always about my sons'. It's seldom about me, or even with any acknowledgment that I am also on the spectrum.



I don't know, but I'm guessing it;s something to do with it feeling too personal, maybe? Like my own name. I hate, hate, hate saying my own name. I don't really like saying other people's names, either during casual conversation.

Has anyone else noticed that almost every (if not every one) reply in this thread has been from females?

ASDs are a special interest to me lol. I want to help others on the spectrum for my career after college. I'm thinking about being a psychology researcher and doing that on the side. I'll just have to see...

i'm the same way. i just hate the word "Asperger's" ... reminds me of "ass burger."
plus it just seems so specific to a group of stereotyped traits that don't comprise the sum total of who it is to be me.



i hadn't noticed, but i do notice that a lot of women (including myself) tend to perseverate on the dearth of information about autism spectrum disorders and women, so that could have something to do with our increased interest in doing our own research.

"i just hate the word "Asperger's" ... reminds me of "ass burger." "
LOL, that makes sense.

"i hadn't noticed, but i do notice that a lot of women (including myself) tend to perseverate on the dearth of information about autism spectrum disorders and women, so that could have something to do with our increased interest in doing our own research."
That makes a lot of sense, too. Although I may be an exception, since I got into it when my brother was diagnosed.

I actually counted 3 or 4 posts by men in this thread, but I could be wrong. Still a disproportionate number of women posting, though.

For me it's because I still can't believe I have it, I do believe I have it of course, but it just feels like a bizarre thing. Too surreal, I could think "sophie, you have AS" and want to shudder because of how weird it is. It's been 6 years since I found out and I still haven't quite got used to it.
Also because it's embarrassing somehow, I get extremely embarrassed if I have to say it.

Yes, there are points in time where it's about all I can think about.

I'm not diagnosed, but being told by a professional that I do not pick up on social cues and having relatives confirm what I have sort of suspected myself in the past has made me obsess again.