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What is the difference between an aspie's interest and a "normal" person's interest?

C

cbl_owener123

New Member
I am new here, and i've only had my diagnoses for 3 months, so i am trying to figure things out lately. but what i have been thinking about is, what makes the special interests "special" i know that an aspie can be very very into their interests, and that they can find comfort in it. and i know without a doubt my special interests would be dinosaurs. but i just want to know how others would explain the differences between a "normal" interest and a special interest
 
I'd attempt to differentiate it by saying that a "normal" interest, you partake in because it's part of some bigger picture, or larger scheme. A special interest is more like learning about stuff for fun, just for the sake of it.

I don't know if that's how others experience it, but that's how I experience it. I believe my diagnosing doctor actually used the term "knowledge porn", and I thought that was spot-on.
 
cbl_owener123 said:
I am new here, and i've only had my diagnoses for 3 months, so i am trying to figure things out lately. but what i have been thinking about is, what makes the special interests "special" i know that an aspie can be very very into their interests, and that they can find comfort in it. and i know without a doubt my special interests would be dinosaurs. but i just want to know how others would explain the differences between a "normal" interest and a special interest
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Define "normal"?! Contrary to popular belief, us Aspies are just as "normal" as everybody else.

As for "special interests", us Aspies tend to focus more intensely on our special interest, to some extent it becomes the "be all and end all" of our lives.
 
"Normal" people are driven to fit into packs, so their interests will reflect that. Does the rest of the pack enjoy this or that? They'll usually follow suit to match, sometimes to the expense of other people.

As for the person with ASD, it's usually an interest driven by the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. Does it stimulate me to learn about such and such? They'll spend time and effort to match, sometimes to the expense of all else.

Both have their flipsides, and that's a bit of a generalization there since people are too complex and diverse, but that's my best guess so far.
 
Personally I see many (but not all) Neurodiverse people having more of an intense, passionate and narrower focus of interests in general than Neurotypical people. In my own case, I certainly fit that description.

However that is not to say that NTs cannot have such narrow focus either. After all, consider those famous discoverers or scientists who weren't likely to be on the spectrum of autism. Yet to accomplish such achievements it would seem their focus- and passion was quite intense as well.
 
I used to keep a road atlas or two in every room. An NT would have just one in the house. Guessing that is the difference.:rolleyes: Actually I'm not sure there is that much difference most of the time other than how socially acceptable it is. Football fans can get completely obsessed to the point of truly unhealthy and no one bats an eye. Spend entire afternoons planning a trip to New Jersey (complete with scheduled bathroom breaks) that no one is going to take and somehow you are odd.
This reminds me of a question I had. What is the difference between visual stimming and a visual special interest?
 
I think normal interests can be stopped easily. If your hungry and need to eat you can stop. If your favorite show is on you can drop what you're doing and watch.

Special interests are more hyper focused. "Must complete this before i can eat or do anything else" kinda thing. If you're hungry you push that aside and continue working. but that might be more related to co morbids.
 
Mild TMI.
Hdphn33 said:
I think normal interests can be stopped easily. If your hungry and need to eat you can stop. If your favorite show is on you can drop what you're doing and watch.

Special interests are more hyper focused. "Must complete this before i can eat or do anything else" kinda thing. If you're hungry you push that aside and continue working. but that might be more related to co morbids.
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I've almost peed myself many times because I didn't want to stop what I was doing :x
 
Is anyone like me and cannot put a book of interest down till it's finished? I was awake all night once doing this.
 
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