Difference between special interest and normal fandom

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When we mention a person with AS having a "special interest", exactly how does that differ from someone being a fan of something? For example, let's take a hypothetical scenario where there are two fans of Doctor Who living next door to each other. One is NT, while the other has AS. How would the Aspie fan compare to the NT fan in his expression of said fandom? Would there be any differences in scope or intensity? Would the Aspie have any other interests outside of Doctor Who? (or whatever show you want to substitute if non-Whovian)

I asked all of this in order to gain a better understanding of how the concept of "special interests" relates to being diagnosed with AS. I've only recently heard of AS a few years ago, and after doing a bit of research on it, I wanted to see if some of the interests that I had as a child/teen were signs of me being somewhere on the spectrum.

I think in some cases it's very hard to tell whether it's an Aspie special interest or not. Even the word "fan" is a contraction of "fanatic."

One pointer might be how eccentric the particular interest is - for example if it's unusual for the person's age (young people frequently become pretty obsessional about certain celebrities). My interest in The Beatles looked fairly normal when I was 12 years old, (though the depth of the interest was slightly unusual for a boy), but on closer inspection it wasn't just a normal teenage fan thing for me. I thought nothing of going to the cinema on my own to see "Help!" And I failed to lose interest when I grew a little older and The Beatles temporarily went rather out of fashion (yes, such a time existed). And to the amusement of my school friends, I was buying the Beatles' old singles years after the band had released them and moved with the times themselves.

I often used to compare my special interests with the obsession of football fans. The difference is a social one - the football fan is one in a crowd of "like minds," whereas with my special interests, I'm pretty much on my own.

I'd very much agree with this. In my observations of others, fandom seems a very social activity. It is a social tool; an identity marker, a hangover of tribalism. It is the product of the persons emotional response to the subject, which is then used for their social gain.

Special interest is a fixation, a drug.

I agree with the other posters, but I also want to add that one role of a special interest is as a stress-reliever.

A fandom might provide interesting activities, but a special interest is more than that.