Can you have multiple interests?

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I mean, can you have multiple interests and still be on the spectrum? D: I keep hearing how autistic people usually have at least one or two special interests. I have a few dozen interests that I can really get into right now. One of them is talking about disabilities like autism, but I also love anime, music, trains, Alice in Wonderland and writing. Is it possible for a person on the spectrum to have a few more interests than usual? This is really confusing for me right now.

I can't, my special interests are way too involved, anything I put on the back burner boils over then burns dry. (metaphorically)
I can loose my car by parking it some where different and not driving for a while... I totally forget I even have one.
I lost 100k of major construction equipment for a whole summer once until a client called me and asked me about it. I didn't even remember that I owned it. Weird huh? Can you say, "Executive Function issues?" LOL
I've even forgotten 'Significant Others' for months at a time, that really makes me feel very bad.
God knows how much crap I've lost that no one ever mentioned. But it doesn't really matter, when I focus I can make lots of money and money fixes everything right? Or at least rebuys it and that helps the economy. heh

But is it possible? Shore! Anything is possible, right?

Yes, you can. It is not a definite/required requirement of the spectrum to have a singular interest, it is one of the possible requirements.
You need to have 3/5 social symptoms, 3/5 of the obsessive symptoms, 3/5 of the communication symptoms, as well as 1/3 "impairments in imagination" symptoms to be considered autistic.
Technically, you could be autistic and be able to look people in the eye, not stim, and not have a singular interest and still be able to receive the diagnosis. Those are common symptoms for the spectrum, but are not required symptoms.
If you don't meet that requirement anymore, you lose your diagnosis,that doesn't mean that you are no longer autistic, you just aren't autistic legally anymore. (Also, you could probably easily fake symptoms to get it legalized again... by another shrink.) There are also prerequisites that you need for the diagnosis, but once you have those, you don't lose them.

You might also find that your interests are all more related than you think and they might be grouped together into a single interest.

I only have one special interest.
I am interested in things other than the one, but I don't really pursue those when I am pursuing the one, which is almost all the time, so there is no time left to pursue others.
I would say that if you have multiple interests that you pursue regularly, then none of them is a special interest.

Hey, you may have a spaceship too, you just forgot it. Ask around your friends if they've seen it.

Well, I haven't had any problem with losing my diagnosis. My psychiatrist and everyone else knows I'm autistic, and I don't think I've really lost it. In fact, I think it's gotten worse from when I was a child. As a child, I was considered borderline autistic because I had some traits but not enough for a total diagnosis of autism or anything. That's why I didn't get fully diagnosed with it until I was about twelve. :/ I haven't been re-evaluated for it though because it's too costly, and I don't think my insurance would pay for it. I notice my autistic traits more than other people do.

Like, I get extremely obsessive over a certain topic. For example, I was obsessed with Loki for a while. (I still am, but it's not nearly as much as before), I have set routines and if those routines are broken then I am more prone to freaking out, I get really flappy and squeally when I'm excited, and I am also prone to severe meltdowns as well. I have little to no social skills with others, even though I'm often a chatterbox with certain people. I have trouble with my verbal and emotional expression, and I didn't talk until I was about four or five, which resulted in speech therapy until the eighth grade. I ahve very high levels of anxiety and depression tendencies as well. I do have some sensory issues towards individual sounds such as yelling, large motors, babies crying/kids screaming and sirens, oh and thunder as well. I don't do very well with predictions and end up predicting things incorrectly, which results in severe meltdowns. I also have trouble controlling my anger as well.

I know I'm on the spectrum, I just don't know where on the spectrum. Some could say I have AS, well others could say I border on the classic end of the autistic spectrum. :/

ooooo! good thought! I'll do that now, thanks! =)

I have always had more than one interest. I have only had one special interest, turtles, from the age of 14. Turtles are always my special interest, but I can still have obsessions. (They are so not the same for me, the difference between them is the difference between love (special interest) and infatuation (obsession). I know there are aspies who don't differentiate the two, but I do because they don't feel the same.)

I have interests that I enjoy (like board & video games, reading, planes, trains and cars etc) while I always love my special interest.

But when I have obsessions I have a harder time getting into my other interests, except for my turtle special interest. I only wanna think and do things connected to the obsession.

On the other hand, I seem to be completely unable to get into things that don't interest me, which is a big problem school and work wise. It's like my brain glazes over when I try to get into subject that don't interest me. The last two paragraphs is really where the 'narrow interest' comes into play for me.

One of the obssesive symptoms is "encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus".

I got many different interests that changes with times and rotates in and out of my mind. I get obsessed with something for a while and then switch to something else. My bookcases and closets are filled with books that I have never had time to read as I have a habit of impulse buy 5-6 books on whatever subject interests me at that very moment.

My one true love, however, is: Maps. I have always loved maps. Give me a map and you can keep me entertained for hours. My art project in high school was a map. I told my parents that the only thing I wanted from them when they die is a set of maps hanging in their living room. My siblings can have the house and the money, I only want the maps.

I have several. Some of them are constant while others might last for a few days durring which I spend hours upon end reading and learning everything I possibly can about the topic, although they generally are related to psychology, disabilities, language, and culture. Autism is by far my dominant special interest.

I've always understood the quality of having special interests to be more of related to the manner one pursues and retains information about it.

I have 'side' interests' , very different from my special interest.

often times side interests last a few months, dont involve as much intense reserch and i dont think about it as often as my main interest.

my special interest is Sonic the Hedgehog but my side interests are

Science
Physics
Psychology
Child Development
Video Games
Adventure Time
Zombies
Music
Movies
Religion
Anime
History
The Human Body & Ailments and injuries
Human Evolution.

like i said, these are side interests, so i pick up facts about these things and then put them in my memory, but not as intesly as my Special Interest.

I have one primary lifelong obsession but have had several short term obsessions lasting anywhere from days to a few months.

Yup, I've got a ton of special interests.

Some of them can last for short periods of time, while others can possibly even last for a year. At least, that's how it is for me.

I have multiple interests, but I can't ever stay focused on more than one or two at a time. So I go through cycles. I'll be really into gaming for a few months, then I'll switch over to photography and it will be all about photography with no gaming for another month, then I'll get focused on running and I'll be all about that until I go back to gaming. It's frustrating because with some things, like my running, it would actually be much better if i could just maintain a low level interest and put a couple hours a week towards them. But I can't ever seem to find a sustainable middle ground.

I have quite a few different ones, so I would guess its normal for ASD.