Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello,
I got diagnosed 7months ago, just before my 28th birthday. Ever since people have been telling me that all my social issues will be solved by going on forums and finding people who share my interests, but the problem is I don't really have any. I like things but not so intently that a person's negative opinion about them wouldn't make me consider dropping that interest. And I don't know lots about stuff I like. I like movies but like I've never seen most of the big ones people seem to always want to talk about. I remember when I heard my friends watched Community I was like "Oooh I've seen that!!" And then they made all these references I didn't get and I started to wonder if I'd missed half the show.
So yeah, here's me trying to join a community forum when I don't even know what I want to talk about with you
Not all autistic people have special interests, some autistic people have consistent special interests that last for years, and yet others have lots of special interests that fade in and out of their lives. We are a diverse group of people.
I wouldn't let it worry you, just continue doing the things that you enjoy doing. If you can find a community around some of those hobbies or interests then that could be a good way to interact with people.
In case you are interested, my special interests are science fiction, fantasy, and autism.
- Sp. Oc.
Hi SpaceOctopus,
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I don't have the special interest trait, but I just generally struggle to like things at all. I'm very good at supporting other people's interests though. If anyone wants to info-dump at me I'm happy to sponge up all the data, I'm just not very good at striking up new conversations.
It's cool to have autism as a special interest, I guess that makes it easy to learn alot about it.
I don't think I have a 'special interest' either as such. There are things that I know about and things that I do regularly but I don't think I'm any different in that regard from someone who's neurotypical.
I am however, like it sounds you are, interested in a huge variety of things. I love sciencey things but also arty things and physical things. I'm currently into fixing and making things and growing things (since it's spring!). Like SpaceOctopus says, I wouldn't worry about not having this specific trait, it's just a common misunderstanding that all autistic people should have all these traits, we're actually a hugely diverse bunch :)
This resonates with me. The only time I can remember being content was the last two years or secondary school, I did the "expected and important" GCSEs early because they were experimenting with my year group so when it came to picking what I was going to study in my final two years I had free reign and the teachers couldn't argue because there weren't many subjects I hadn't done already. I did art, graphics, dance and extra science. My days were so diverse and I was just trying things out to see if I liked doing them. I wish society didn't say "you have to pick this one thing and get good at it so you can get paid" I just want to try all the stuff endlessly and then move on if I get bored, no commitment. Damn Capitalism
It always rings alarm bells in my mind when sites state what traits or characteristics autistic people should and should not have. Such generalisations are not only unhelpful but in many cases invalid. The only generalisation that can be made in this situation is that those sites always misunderstand the complexity of autistic people.
Hi Melon,
I keep reading on all these 'autism' sites that i'm not suppose to have any interests, or at least very few. And that being autistic means i should really have a in-depth knowledge of something obscure.
But i think i'm the exact opposite. I'm interested in everything and anything. When i was younger i always looked forward to getting the list of nightschool classes, that our local schools were doing, i wanted to do them all,4 or5 nights a week, not just GCEs, but bricklaying to ghost hunting and everything inbetween.
That was a long time ago now, i'm nearly 69 now. But knowing what else i know now about autism, which i didn't know then. I wonder if i went to these places 'cos i was desparate to find a friend.