"You really need to widen your horizons"

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I got this all the time as a kid in regards to my special intrests and obsessions. As an adult I can simply tell people to get lost and to go procreate with themselves if they don't like my obsessions but as I kid, I would get yelled or or something would be taken away from me because I was "disprespectful". Well, I found it dispresctful when someone told me I was too obsessive abot something or that having an obsession with something completly innocent like meerkats. Once on DeviantArt, I asked someone by the name of RontuFox, if they were aware that Rontu meant "fox eyes". They said they were and that they got the name from the book "Island of the Blue Dolphins". I told them I had to read that for school and that's how I was aware that's what it meant. They asked me if I liked it and I said no. They asked why and I told them that I hate pretty much anything that dosen't have to do with my obsessions. I knew they probably were not aware of autistic obsessions/special intrests so I put it in words that an NT could comprehend. They told me that was very limiting. Anyway, what's so wrong with having only one or a few intrests and being REALLY into those? And why is an obsession so "unhealthy"?

I had the same problem it traumatized me a little to the point where as an Adult I don't go to family events because I remember constantly being rejected as a kid. I had to read Island of the Blue Dolphins too. I hated it, if they incorporated my special interests I could have done so much better than I did in grade school. I had to go to a special ED school high school, but when I realized my learning curve I did make it to a normal high school with honor marks. I think having an obsession is directly linked with my learning abilities and helps me overcome my disabilities to an extent. I think having positive obsessions that help you learn, develop and generally make you feel good is a healthy part of having ASDs.

Mom used to get mad at me for reading 101 Dalmatians over and over or looking the same stuff online over and over. I never understood why that was a problem. It wasn't like I was talking about it or sucking her into it. She didn't even like how I would get on the computer and look at Benny & Joon stuff. She wanted me to be out socializing with other students or else they would think there was something wrong with me.

Just as long as no one else gets sucked into it I don't see it as a problem.

Annoys me to no end. As a kid I "worried my mother" because i read too much. I confess going to the dinner table without a book felt like heroin withdrawal, I felt cold, I felt bored, I felt nothing was happening. It was depressing to me to finish a book not knowing if I would be able to get my hands on another one that would be just as awesome.
Now, I have to hear my family, the school teachers, the psychologist and the psychiatrist tell me that my son should not be playing more than an hour of video games a day. He says as soon as he's old enough he'll seek a job in video-game testing so he can live by himself and study programming . Well. Who are they to tell him how many hours a day he can play........it will probably pass, many special interests pass or mutate, but even if it does not, it makes him happy about the present and the future. So back off, people.

Bull.

This came up a few months ago from another user.

Just read almost ANY self-help success book. Almost ALL of them recommend focus on a particular field of interest. The most successful people in this world are not Jack's-of-all-Trades. By far, the vast majority of them zeroed in on one thing they loved and were good at, and excelled at it.

Broadening your horizons, is a philosophy promoted by public schools and some higher educational institutions, and the philosophy is flawed.

I remember when I was in grade 2 we were drawing pictures and because of my cat obsession I drew cats the teacher would say "draw something else"

"Really? I think this is fine. Would you rather me be obsessed with all of your pairs of pants?"

People just left me alone about my obsessions and special interests, mostly because they were mystified or intimidated by a kid who was into reading the Oxford Engish Dictionary, botany, biology, genetics, computer programming, dinosaurs, movies and I forget what else! I was happily left to myself and it's one of the happiest aspects of a very emotionally troubled childhood.

My parents used to get so upset about my obsessions, particularly my dad. He used to yell at me about my tv watching. Later it turned to my computer usage, etc. He especially disliked video games. It was really hard at times since I would have to hide what I was doing or sneak it in at off hours when he wasn't home. None of it caused me to lose interest. If anything, I just felt cheated and it meant I would spend more time later.