Is autism your special interest?

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I can’t stop learning about it. I’m always thirsty for more information. The thirst is never quenched. For hours every day I read up on it and I’m just increasingly fascinated by the condition and the more I learn about it, the more I value its uniqueness. The beauty of it. But the hardship is very undeniable though it does seem to vary from person to person.

Having special interests and/or talents does make life worth living, but only if I had a thing called spare time. I don’t get anywhere near enough of it. Ever, really. But that’s just my life. But learning about autism is a comfort and a super fun journey and adventure for me. Especially when it comes to reading about all the strengths. It’s always interesting to observe those higher and lower functioning than me or about the same.

Psychology. Brains. Differences. All so fun to learn about. And I often think about what differences in autism can help benefit humanity. Sometimes I view it in a more spiritual perspective.

If autism is your special interest, what about it interests you the most?

Hi Erjoy29

I like to learn about ASD, ADHD, antisocial personality disorders and schizophrenia. Actually I just saw a good film about a girl with schizophrenia called 'Fear of Rain' i think it was on Netflix.

kuze

Autism was my special interest for about a year and a half, starting when I began seriously considering getting an evaluation, up through the time I finally got my diagnosis. Nowadays, although I'm still interested in learning about autism, my special interest is not autism per se but the autistic community and the question of how best to build it as an organized subculture.

I am a computer scientist by training and according to the type of work I do. A big part of my job is identifying the root cause of a problem. When faced with something that troubles me I read up on it. My anxiety usually goes down when I know more about something. I started researching published peer-reviewed journal articles, studies and related "pop" science when my son was being evaluated by the local school system. I was diagnosed as having "fine-motor delay" when I was in 4th grade, and "Dyslexic" later by a tutor, I was diagnosed ADHD as an adult, and learned more about ADHD and related topics and common co-morbid (two things in the same body). Because of my diagnoses as a youth I have had a long term interest in the brain, LD and language development and have tried to educate my self as best as I could for as far back as I can remember, certainly since grade school, even though it is not my field. Computer science and the study of the brain overlap in many areas, most obviously in artificial intelligence, but in many ways there is nothing that a computer does that a human didn't do first, so there is a lot of studying people to see you they work do you can imitate them. I also have supplemented my kids education with home-schooling-like techniques and have tried to keep up to date and advocate for them. All three of my kids have some of my symptoms, but my oldest son has the most, and even more Autism traits that I display. My youngest son has the next most, and my middle child, my daughter, is mostly a NT. Except when discussing things with others I don't really distinguish between LD, Dyslexia, ADHD, ASD - it all comes down to thinking differently or being "wired differently". neuro-a-typical might be a term (but I am sure someone would decide to find that offensive). A person is a person - I am not a collection of diagnosis, and I have only the one brain.

So you could say Autism is ONE of my special interests. I think learning is my number one special interest, but I tend to gravitate to a number of related topics, or at least groups of related topics.

It used to be, around the time I heard I had the diagnosis (I got mine as a child), and it resurfaced at one point, but it isn't anymore. If I found some new ankle to look at it from, then it might become a thing again.

Interest, yes. But not necessarily a direct one. The direct interest is me.

Special interest, no.





As for the journey thing? I've graduated. Been in both 'paths' so to speak.

Now I'm just going about my way not as an autistic nor as someone with autism (because it's over).
But as someone who have yet to come in full terms with the human condition itself.

Autism, to me now, is simply just a factor to consider best, a mere name at worst.
I'm just in this particular autism forum to kill time.

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Autism is one of my special interests.

In this moment, I would say yes, autism is my special interest. My research can derail entire hours in my work day as I’m currently working from home in lockdown!

It became a special interest after I learned I might have it at 11. It also became one again after I realized I really do have it at 19. Once in awhile I get surges of where I like to research stuff about it and talk about it.

Neurology and psychology were interests of mine long before I was diagnosed with ASD.

I'm a little late to the party, but yes, I have taken up autism as a very intense interest, since I learned of my own diagnosis so late in life.

I search blogs, forums, pages, research constantly, trying to learn more and more about it.

I also want to share that info to help others like me find their own late autism diagnosis.

Learning about my autism even so late in my life has given me so much relief from past pain and sorrow, and so many self understandings and understanding of others that I simply did not know of before diagnosis.
It has been such a relief to find out all the struggles and pains of my sordid past were not "all my fault" and that autism was there working behind the scenes without anybody even suspecting it. Nobody knew back then!