Hi, my name is Stephanie and today I want to talk to you about special interests.
And really quick I want to show you: I have my autism: the world from a
different perspective shirt and I just... You know, even if I never get recognized
by the Mass family, Fathering Autism, I'm just saying. I'm reppin' your merch. You
should, you should just say hi sometime. If there is one thing that is pretty stereotypical
concerning autism or that at least everyone seems to know has to do with
autism, is the concept of a special interest. So, basically, the idea is that
autistics tend to be very hyper-focused and they develop interests that are
unique and different most of the time than what most people seem to be
interested in. So, I might know all the facts about the Titanic or something. I
don't know. And so you might consider that a special interest. It would be
something I talk about. Something I somehow integrate into my life all the
time. It's just something I'd be very focused
on and really enjoy talking about, really enjoy doing, if it's something that you
do. Now, special interests and the word "obsession" kind of usually get thrown
around together. So, there is some debate whether a special interest is
automatically an obsession or if a special interest can become obsessive or
an obsession. Now, some attribute special interest to the kind of restricted
activity and interests of autistic people. So, that's kind of seen as almost
like a side effect of having "the autism" but for a lot of people it does produce
kind of a familiarity and a comfort for some people and a predictability when
they're engaging in that special interest. My view on it is that a special
interest is purely the effect or the product of the autistic brain and its
ability to really kind of deep dive information- and knowledge-wise and even
sometimes experientially into different things because our brain kind of makes
those connections a little bit longer than another person's. So, when you're
focused on something and thinking about and
connecting the concepts of something a little bit longer, you might continue and
continue on with that. So, a lot of times autistics will catch on to something
that sparks their interest and the more they learn about it and the more,
the more, the more they learn about it, the deeper they get, the more they find
out about it; it becomes almost, like, addicting and it's like, wow, I really
love- did you know all this information about it? And it can kind of
leak over, obviously, into conversation. It can take up a lot of time and energy and
effort or whatever and people might be concerned. Like, wow, ... all they do is
talk about that one thing. All they do is look at that one thing. All they do is
get involved in that thing you know. And sometimes people feel like that's a bad
thing. Now, however, unlike the stereotype
suggests, not all autistics actually have a special interest and then the idea of
what a special interest is can kind of really vary. Some people, it's very
obvious. Throughout their whole life, it's been this thing, or that's all they'll
ever talk about, all they'll ever relate things to, etc. Some people's is very obvious and
very big in their life but then there's ones that are more socially acceptable.
And when you have a more socially acceptable interest, then it doesn't
stand out as that special interest but maybe an area of expertise or a hobby,
etc. Now, females do tend to have more socially acceptable special interests
and that's kind of maybe because of the whole masking thing. It might just be
because; I don't know. It is, it just doesn't stand out as much? I don't know.
And then, in addition to special interests maybe almost seeming like
they're just hobbies or just general interests if they are socially
acceptable or just kind of hard to identify maybe for the autistic to
realize that that's something that they're obsessive with or really
interested in, there's also the fact that special interests aren't always
permanent. Again, some people will experience a love and affinity for
something and it will continue for their whole life. There are a lot of people
however who will invest a lot of time and energy and
interest and have all this information about this thing and one day they wake
up and they just don't care. They just don't care about it anymore.
And it's not that interesting anymore. It's just whatever. And that can be
really hard for the autistic to suddenly, almost, kind of, like, be between special
interests. It's, it's very, kind of, sad, because a lot of autistics actually find
a lot of joy and a lot of peace in engaging with their special interests.
Now, understanding that special interests can actually bring a form of happiness
or solace or just calm and sometimes even a maybe refreshing or whatnot for
an autistic person, knowing that information is very important, especially
for parents. Because I've actually heard of parents who are very well-meaning and
are concerned that their child is becoming too obsessive with something
and so they want to restrict and limit their access to that thing that might be
becoming a special interest. You know, they're concerned because it's becoming
all they talk about, all they want to do, all of this, and as a parent, you might
see that as just problematic in general. And then also maybe it inhibits their
ability to maybe make friendships or make just general conversation that
doesn't involve that thing. However, don't do that. When you restrict access to a
special interest, it's kind of like restricting access to something that
brings someone joy and happiness; relief. You might actually be stunting an
autistic's growth by doing that. And what I mean by that is that while, yes, a
special interest is that thing, they're learning a lot of information and the
thing about when autistics are self-directed with learning instead of
being repeated and told all the facts in a way that you have to memorize this you
have to do this, when it's their own led learning, they're able to take that and
generalize it. That's why a lot of them will be able to relate new information
back to their special interest. That's a form of generalization. That's actually
really difficult for most autistics, especially in the general, you know,
standard way of learning... "learning" in the classroom setting or whatnot, where we're
told things in a certain order and then repeat that information over and over
and over; rote memorization. That kind of stuff is actually really hard for an
autistic person to generalize. So, when they're able to engulf themselves in
that special interest, they're also using it as a way to see the world ...
like, process the world and see the world and understand the world in a way that's
safe, interesting, and fun for them. So, while it seems like, you know, they're just
doing this one thing and that's all they're talking about. That's all they do.
That's really destructive for them. It's really not. Autistic people are just
different like that. And we kind of deep dive into specific targeted things. Now,
autistics themselves may become ashamed of their special interests and try to
hide them and not talk about them and kind of secretly indulge in them. And
that usually is because of either parents or family members or friends or
just general people they interact with kind of shaming them for being so
interested and so engulfed in one thing, especially when it's something that's
weird and not as socially acceptable. So, that's really kind of sad because it
causes the autistic person to kind of reject the thing that's really giving
them that joy and helping them process and helping them experience the world
from maybe a safer place and really those things, ignoring them and hiding
them, doesn't make them go away. There's still a special interest, I guess, now
that I'm thinking about it, of mine that once you get deep enough into it, a very
giddy, childish person will come up to talk to you all about it. And I think
sometimes, yeah, it's stupid that I find a lot of joy in it. Like, it is kind of
embarrassing. It seems childish but, like, why is it wrong for someone just to be
happy? I think that's such a weird concept. I feel like I just got really
shamed for it and people saw it as a bad thing,
that I was being too obsessive. And yes, I did need to work on balance, but I just
shoved it all the way down because I thought that meant, like, I was doing
better. Like, it was bad of me to, to enjoy that thing, but it wasn't. And yes, it was
becoming a filter for me to see the world, but I learned a lot through it and
it helped me engage with people and engage with the world from a happier
place. And it is something that when I'm feeling really down and really low and I
just can't recharge, if I engage with that, I tend to be able to recharge. I
tend to be able to just do better that way. It's weird. I don't necessarily get
it. And a lot of autistics report this kind of phenomenon, where it's almost
like their executive functioning kind of starts to wane. They're overwhelmed.
They can't deal with life. Nothing seems to be able to give them that reset, that
recharge, and engaging in that special interest, a lot of times, resets that. Do I
know the science behind that particular thing? No, not really, but my my best guess
is that it is, like, a way of connecting in something that we are truly
interested in, something we're truly, I don't know, connected to and being able
to kind of let the world and its confusing things stop for a while. It's
like it's something we understand even if it's something we've had to work
really hard to learn about. It's almost like it's become something we innately
understand and so it's almost like a break from all the other things that we
have to deal with that don't come naturally. It's something that does come
naturally. It's something that does let us express and be who we are, even if
it's in our heads. It doesn't have to be a physical action. It's, it's a strange
phenomenon, but it's not a bad thing. Now, I've mentioned in this video about how a
special interest kind of can help someone to safely learn a lot of things
about the world and kind of relate those things back into, you know, a
generalization and such like that. A lot of people will put a focus on being able
to develop that special interest into a career, which is awesome. If you can
develop a special interest into a career, something that you know about, something
that you just feel really connected to, something that you love to do,
that's awesome. There are going to be some that aren't
going to be able to be used like that, and it tends to be that autistics do
tend to have more than one special interest, so that works out great, because
there might be something that you just really love that you can use as a skill
or can be developed in some way as a really awesome skill that's considered
productive. And it's also okay to have special interests that aren't skills,
that aren't productive to humanity. It's okay to just be a human being. So, there
you go. That's my basic rundown, my perspective on special interests and
the way people perceive them and the way that I think they work and all that jazz.
Hopefully, this video was helpful. If you enjoyed it, go ahead and hit that thumbs
up or like button and let me know your thoughts in the comments below. If you
have a special interest, special interests, if you experienced that
phenomenon of, like, being really deep into a special interest and poof it's
gone and then you have another one, or are in-between special interests, or you
just have one or two or three or whatever that have carried you through
life, all that kind of stuff, just let me know in the comments below. And yeah, if
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a wonderful week and see me in my next video. Bye!