special interest in ASD's aka PDD's

Post Reply New Topic

I know there was another thread about this once but I want to do a poll of how many people diagnosed and not diagnosed with ASD have a current special interest (i.e very intense..possibly narrow interest that has lasted a long time)that is ASD related. I am diagnosed and do have this interest (in a condition I was diagnosed with )....it's a very intense interest and it has lasted for over a year......anybody else? Also please post what aspect of ASD's you are interested in (or most interested in).....

8 years

It comes and goes. Mostly it's aspects of the condition or comorbids that are new to me that catch my current attention.

I'm mainly interested in attention, perception, memory, learning and problems with same. Though I am never quite sure where Autism ends and Attention Deficit begins... maybe I like it because it is a grey area.

I used to have a special interest in ASDs from November 2008-April/May 2010. It's the only special interest I've had that I was pleased to see go to be honest, I drove myself crazy with it because I am very uncomfortable talking about ASDs IRL, and when researching it I took ages to type the word "aspergers" because it makes me feel weird. So it gets a bit annoying when I just want to read loads about it but I can't write the key words.

Yeah. Not quite as much as when I was first diagnosed though, and it's not my main special interest. Still, I've definitely fixated on it wayyyy more than what would be considered normal.

I enjoy finding links and patterns in medical 'conditions' and disorders and such, so when I found a link to ASD from Sensory Processing Disorder, I started to research it a lot all over again. I used to research about it back when I first thought I had AS, but I set it down for something else (I think school itself just got too much). Now I'm back into researching, and actively pursuing an official dx too. I get a bit absorbed into researching things, especially when I find links in things. I have to restrain myself from talking to others about it, because often no one really wants to hear the information I learned from 15 books over the period of a week...

I'm interested in Asperger's Syndrome. I like to know about famous people who have it, and I always think about how it is "overdiagnosed." I look forward to the day at least 10% of people have it because that means I can fit in better. I wonder who has it at my school.

I am actively seeking a DX to the point of driving my wife bonkers with my interest in the subject matter at hand.

It makes me feel weird to research it too...I can't explain why. I feel weird reading so many books about it.....and it took me forever to put up this thread because I felt weird about talking about this as a special interest! Any thoughts as to why this might make us feel so strange?

I keep hoping the interest will start to wane and I will become intensely interested in something else because of this feeling.....but ASD's dominate my thoughts and activities (with the exception of studying) at the moment.........I am studying psychology and so this reinforces my interest/allows me to spend more time researching it (bcs sometimes I can choose to do a research assignment on ASD's).

I was intrigued even back before Asperger's was on any one's radar. I remember reading Dibs-In Search of Self and David and Lisa as a teen and feeling like I could understand that sense of separateness very well. I was already receiving therapy as early as 3rd grade because I was so withdrawn and didn't know how to make friends and had major sleep and anxiety issues. When my son was diagnosed 8 years ago and like many I started reading and recognized myself to a degree. I don't think I fit the text book profile of someone with AS though.

I would say that my interest in ASDs is now at about three years, but much more intense and focused in the past four months.