"Stereotyped and restricted" interests

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What exactly makes the "special interests" of autistics/aspies "stereotyped and restricted"?

Some examples that appears in the literature (aspies obsessed with types of cameras but not interested in photography, or obsessed for years with types of batteries...) seems to be indeed "restricted", but what about the aspies who have several special interests at the same time, or have very broad special interests (like "science"), and/or change frequently of special interests?

In what sense their interests are more "restricted" than the typical neurotypical who (besides job and family) is only interested in politics and sports? I have a close relative that is (IMO) the most possible NT and, when I go to his house, his TV is always in a channel of sports (and almost always in a soccer match).

Or "stereotyped and restricted" is simply a pejorative way of saying "unusual"?

It's difficult to explain this.

I have a particular interest and everyone around me knows about it. It is unusual in the fact that I know every detail about it, more details than a lot of people who would have advanced degrees in related subjects(and I have been asked many times if I have an advanced degree in related subjects). I spoke so much about it especially when I was younger that a few years ago I saw someone I hadn't seen in almost ten years and the first thing she said to me was to ask me about whether I still liked the particular subject.

It seems that most people's understanding of the subject is very rudimentary, like they wouldn't even consider that it's a subject unless it was pointed out to them.

I agree with this. My mom has illustrated the differences between NT and AS interests by telling me that although she really likes the band Fleetwood Mac, she doesn't think about it 24/7 and memorize facts about it like I do with my interests.

STEREOTYPED in this sense I think means amassing facts as a picture of what something is, rather than being able to appreciate it in a more fluid and organic manner.

STEREOTYPING the subject is seeing it as very concrete and describable, sometimes at the expense of being able to 'experience' it as it really IS (rather than just expounding on it in some idealized form).

For instance, we may mentally catalog detailed minutiae about a subject, that even someone involved in that arena as a professional might not feel were worth memorizing.

RESTRICTED, I believe, is a reference to the tendency to find focusing on any subject outside our personal obsessive interests nearly impossible. I can talk about music and art all day long, but put me in a math classroom or try to teach me about cooking and I won't hear a word the instructor says. I'll listen - it just won't stick.

What about both?



I'm confused here.



I would say that this is a bit of an extreme description of what I experience. While I do memorize things related to my interests, they are all of importance.

But, I probably know more about AS right now than all but a handful of psychologists. I've read so much (both here and elsewhere on the internet), and I remember everything that is important (in which ways it relates to me).



While I do obsess over topics to the point where many would consider it unhealthy (especially when I was younger), I can focus on other things if I absolutely have to.

Thats me! Little miss (science) girl in a house full of people who really couldn't care less. Talking about my obsession with raccoons, recycling, and crochet! Try to teach me geography, history, geometry, cultures, or language arts, and a few others, and I will not be able to absorb anything! I turn from a sponge to a rock! But once to start talking about raccoons, I prick up like a dog when you shake a food bag!

I guess that's more of the "stereotyped and restricted". I can talk you to sleep with facts on raccoons, but I can tell you almost nothing about math...

or as Matt said: "[his mother] really likes the band Fleetwood Mac, she doesn't think about it 24/7 and memorize facts about it like I do with my interests."

I think it depends on your degree of autism. Supposedly it relates to brain plasticity patterns.
Luckily my obsession is with understanding people and behavior, otherwise I'd be a drooling vegetable in a nursing home right now.
In some ways it's restricted because I really could care less about what is being communicated, just so that I can understand and explain it to others. Yep, I just figured that out just now, and now I have an excuse for telling people everything I learn.

Basically, it's just shrink lingo for special intrests and obsessions.

I thought "stereotyped" in this context meant "repetitive."

I also don't think it's a matter of not experiencing something as it "really is." I have a really negative reaction to that statement that I can't at this moment put into words, but I can say it seems inconsistent with my own history.

My interests are obsessive. I think a lot about them and get extremely excited around them. But I don't remember details/facts of them well I don't think. And when it's brought up, the topic, I'm usually too excited to say anything. I saw an image of one of my interests on TV and all I could do was point and say 'look look it's _____ look look" etc. No monlogues, no fact memorization. It's just immersion and happiness.

I know for me if someone asks a question about a special interest I have to actively fight myself to not just share everything I know about the topic. That might be part of what its referring to.

I support this.

Although I do memorize facts about my obsessions, I also get overly excited and happy whenever I come across them in everyday life. For example, a few weeks ago on America's Got Talent, a BMX group called Yellow Design Stunt Team did a performance where they dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland while a song from the "Almost Alice" soundtrack ("Tea Party" by Kerli) played in the background. I was so excited that all I could do was point and yell, "OMG they're doing Alice in Wonderland! And they're using a song from the soundtrack!!!111!!!1"

A stereotype is a set form or a convention. It means the interest is associated with the person. The person is known as "the sports expert" or "astronomy geek."

NTs can have stereotyped interests as well. If you know an NT who obsesses on sports, you could say he has a stereotyped interest.

That's the common definition, but not the definition used in the diagnostic criteria for autistic spectrum disorders, which refers to repetitive behavior. Interests are actually under the "repetitive behavior" category.

Shouldn't we look at the spirit of the criteria? Isn't that what professionals do? Also, stereotyped interests are not the only diagnostic criteria to be met for diagnosis. An NT could have a stereotyped interest like dinosaurs for example, without clumsiness or repetitive behaviors. When I was young, I didn't hand flap, which is what is associated with ASDs but I did turn the light switch on and off until my mother made me stop. I had this fascination with lids I could swirl on top of vases or whatever it was. It didn't work with all containers because the lids were not always the same type. I would open and close doors over and over. She thought it was weird I did these things and would get hopelessly frustrated at me. I had other repetitive behaviors one might not associate with ASDs, but they were there.

The stereotyped interest might not be that unusual in itself, only when accompanied by other criteria in the same individual.