Special Interests - they’re just interests

I don’t think special interests are just interests though. I have interests outside of my SPINs and it’s a very different experience that I think is useful to separate.

One day in middle school I watched Frozen 2, then I watched a documentary or how it was made, then I watched the singalong version. Then I repeated those three things over again immediately after. It was about 12 hours straight of essentially the same thing.

Around the same time I also spent 32 hours straight of doing an imaginary Frozen inspired story in my head. In that time I just paced my room or layed down. I did eat, drink, sleep, and I used the bathroom once.

Somtimes I get so excited thinking about it that I end up being physically exhausted and shut down the next day. Sometimes it’s the only topic I can talk about for hours. I’d rather spend my money on a Frozen item than any necessity.

Im not sure I’d even categorize them as a favorite interest because sometimes I dislike it. Some hyperfixations are less enjoyable and then it ends up being obsessive thoughts that make my mental health bad but it’s still an interest in some way and I can’t stop it even when I want to.

My regular interests don’t have the same effect - long term or consistently anyway, sometimes I can fixate on it for a short time. So I think “special” is less referring to the interest itself as unique or superior, but just to say that it’s diferent to how other interest are. That’s my interpretation anyway

If I had to differentiate between interests, I would use “favourite/preferred/treasured/most-liked”. 

I wouldn't go up to someone and say my special interest is.... Or ask them what their special interest is so you do have a point. However, there is a difference in my interests. There are things I enjoy have an interest in and then there are things that I absolutely love, want to be in every aspect of my life and want to know every single little bit about. They bring me absolute joy and can be used asna tool in my life to help me regulate etc. I don't believe NTs tend to experience an interest like this so the special is to differentiate. I think it was to replace people talking about autistic people being obsessed.

To stop people calling them obsessions I think. It was believed that obsession had negative connotations. 

I think it is to indicate an unusual level of interest.

People are interested in lots things, like whether it will rain tomorrow, if there's a special offer on, what time it gets dark.

But spending hours on something to the exclusion of everything else, losing time, memorising lots of facts or data, etc., what most might term obsessive, is a special interest.

You can't have many, there's not enough time.

Whether special is the right word I don't know. I don't think about it.

Lets throw into the mix:

- flow,

- hyperfocus, and

- monotropism

I don't really have special interests either, I have a lot of things I'm interested in and some long term interests, like cooking and history, but they're not all consumming like some peoples seem to be.

I wonder if the term "special interests" was coined by NT to describe why people are fascinated with things that they are not?

I don’t describe my interests as special. The word “special” in the context of interests seems like an appeasement. 

I wonder when and why the word “special” began to be used? 

I don't subscribe, or Identify with the "special" attribution to my interests.

However, I would concede they are my "intense" interests.

I would also accept that I may pursue my interests to a greater degree and on a more enduring basis than most of the hobbies / pastimes of the neurotypical people I know.

"Specific Interests" is another option, and you can still call them SPINs.

I'm not sure I mind "special" so much, though. I think my interests are more "special" to me than to the average punter; I get more out of them, probably. Not that NTs can't have special interests, too, or that they can't get just as much out of them, but I think it is rarer, proportionately.

It’s just a shorter and more simple way of saying:

• “Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus”, per the DSM criteria for autism.
• Or “Persistent restricted, repetitive, and inflexible patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities that are clearly atypical or excessive for the individual’s age and sociocultural context.”, per the ICD criteria.

The NAS uses a shorter phrase in its related article:

NAS - Focused and dedicated interests

The NAS article does acknowledge that some people find “special” patronising.