Is Aspergers your special interest?

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I consider myself "mild" Aspergers because I feel vastly different from "normal" people, but I don't feel as Asperger(ish) as many people on this forum. (based on my own probably-flawed perceptions)

Lately my special interest is Aspergers and ASD. I am thinking about it, researching it, writing little essays to myself about it that I probably will never show anyone, from sun up to sun down, including when I should be doing other things like earning my wage or fixing things in the house. As a tangent I also obsess over interactions, and fairness or unfairness when it comes to dominant personalities vs passive personalities, and extroverts vs introverts -- how and why interactions are the way they are, and how society rewards or punishes people's different ways of being.

I've been browsing forums, browsing posts from people who think Aspergers and ASD (and sometimes even Autism) are fake -- trying to get inside their heads and see if I can understand it, as well as see if I can find something I could tell them to change their mind. (And please, don't give me the cliche lecture about "you shouldn't worry about it" -- I will just ignore you. )

Every time I walk through the corridors at work, I look at people I pass and think, I wonder who here has it AS. I wonder who has it and doesn't want to know or acknowledge it.

So, clearly it is my "special interest" although I'm not sure I want it to be. But -- if I think I can handle it, I want to go to school to be a psychologist so I can make use of this interest.

How many others have had this be their special interest?

Why not post them somewhere? I woulnt mind, I'm sure there could be something interesting written in them. I was diagnosed with AS once too, but i don't really have any obsessive interests. I never really completely focus on one certain topic non-stop for extended amounts of time

It's among them, but my interests aren't wholly centered around it. I'm really into psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience. So psychological conditions affecting brain development (such as autism and ADHD) really fascinate me.

Some are in my head, some are scribbled down and lost. Some are in the form of e-mail and chat conversations with the only person I know who will tolerate me going on and on about Aspergers, introverts, and personalities. (I might capture them one day and concatenate them somewhere).

I am thinking about writing a blog or something.

BTW when I mention introvert -- I talk way too much for some people to believe I am one, including a lot of random chit-chat that I think many other Aspies really don't like. I still think I meet the technical definition of what makes someone an introvert, although I also sometimes think I'm a weird hybrid.

I'm really into psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience as well!

I also consider the autism spectrum to be something I'm intensely interested in right now.



Personally I believe that's always possible regardless of what definition you use, whether it be the social energizing and siphoning one or not. I describe myself as an introverted extrovert myself. I say this because although I am easily energized/excited by social interaction, I appear to be introverted as I'm always too anxious and awkward when it comes to social interaction. Also depending on the type of interaction and the setting, I may lose my energy, but that might not be due to the interaction itself. I can't really describe what I'm trying to say properly to be honest!

Yes, autism is one of my special interests.


These are (currently): ASD, meteorology and microbiology.

Two very long running special interests that seem to have been partially displaced by my current preoccupation with ASD are photography and astronomy.

Computers and programming are also an interest, but often somehow woven into the others (e.g., writing some code to analyze data from one of the other interests.)

Actually, the Titanic is my special interest. Asperger's isn't even on my list of interests--I don't let it define who I am.

Not much.
It was added to my curiosity of the lower part of the spectrum. Except for the temporary hiding of autistic symptoms when I read of higher-functioning females years later.

At times. Right now it is. I like to learn a lot about it so that I can understand myself and others better. I think it's really interesting.

That is a little related to why I said "I'm not sure I want it to be."

It is also easy to slip into wallowing in self-pity if you are not careful. Or spend so much time analyzing fairness/unfairness that you don't actually do anything with your life. Or to give way to anger.

Nevertheless I am drawn in to analyzing the dynamics of it, both personal and inter-personal. The reasons - why would it be important to me? Why would it be important to someone else? Should it be? What is the best way for someone with Aspergers to help themselves, to help others? (usually with someone else in mind, not myself.) I also like to think about, what happens when someone does not want to accept the label or think about it, or acknowledge in any way that they would fit into this category? Could that be better? There are so many concepts to explore, some scientific, some emotional, some social, etc.

Typically, the answer to that enigma is simply that autism/aspergers hasn't touched the lives of those people, or of anyone those people care about. Anyone who has ever been a relative or friend of a person on the spectrum clearly knows how real it is - for the people that deny it, it's simply more comfortable for their worldview for them to live in a world where autism and aspergers are not actual problems that effect actual people, because then they might catch themselves caring about someone on the spectrum and then who knows what would happen.

People tend to do what is most comfortable for them to do. If not thinking about problems that don't affect them is comfortable, people won't think about problems that don't affect them. That's just how people are, that's just how it is.

On the whole I dont disagree. There are also prides and prejudices, and people jumping to conclusions with what limited information they have.

I did a little thought experiment last night. One of my boys was really struggling to close the door on the minivan, the little wheel we think is probably partially broken, and also probably in need of lubrication. It is hard for anybody to open/close it, especially a kid.

This is what I said:

(Imagine this in the voice of a seasoned and old fashioned NT man)

"Son, I've been around doors all my life. They're not really that complicated. It probably just takes a little more effort than you're willing to provide. Sure, you can complain that it is different for you, but I know what doors are like. I know what I'm talking about because I open and close doors all the time. For example this one, right here -- watch. There I just closed it." (As I close the door on the opposite side of the van.) "So I know what I'm talking about. Now if you are done complaining and feeling sorry for yourself, about some situation you feel is unfair, and you are ready to just learn how to close a door properly, then maybe we can get somewhere"

I used to be into Psychology and was going to do my degree in it. Then I got angry with the psychiatric profession for making several incorrect diagnoses and giving me medication that left me physically ill for a number of years and lost faith in the field. Now I tend to feel they teach a load of ********** (add relevant expletive).

I think there is probably meant to be some variation within the human species and that some of these variations are being labelled as disorders because they don't fit into societies ideals of what it thinks a human should be.

I accept my theories seem odd to people and they don't agree but I do worry that people are being medicated for non existent illnesses and that we are unfairly stigmatising them as a result. In a way, it teaches people ignorance and encourages them to view difference as disease or a disorder, which then (in conjunction with a hierarchical belief system (assuming those to be disordered as being inferior beings), brings about prejudice and discrimination which in turn brings about abuse (as they think its ok to treat the lesser being like they are s**t, after all they are inferior in their mind) and things like hate crime.

The psychology profession plays a role in that...as much as they help people, they can hurt them.

Ergo I turned away from the field.

Truth is no one really knows what a human should be....and who says a human should be anything?

I agree.

Every human being was born to be that particular human being. The worst thing you can do to a human is tell them what they were born to do, when chances are they'll figure it out just fine on their own.

True, we should really be using any discussions about AS really as a means of helping people recognize that its OK for people to be different.

I dont insist on anything being called a disorder.

But, here are a couple examples of why I do want the concept of AS to be recognized:

* We can literally be arrested and thrown in prison for something we didn't do, because the establishment teaches that there are certain behaviors that you can use to tell when someone is hiding something or lying. Some of these are ASD or autistic behaviors.

(In biblical times, I bet that ASD folks were summarily executed because they were nearby when something happened, and the soldiers find them and see them acting "off" and use that as proof that they did it!)

Without the research that has gone into AS, ASD, Autism, etc. there could be now way to convince the establishment that they could be wrong about this!

* They tell job recruiters that if they don't look you in the eye and give a firm handshake, they are untrustworthy and you should not hire them.

Here, I'm starting to go negative, so I better stop. I really do not want to be negative all the time. This special interest should be a positive thing for me.

So yeah, good reminder though, lets not encourage people to call it a disease. It's not. It is mostly a way for people to understand themselves, and begin to teach others to be more compassionate because its OK for others to be different.