Autistic Hedgehog

I think it’s not actually that uncommon for us to be interested in people. I’m fascinated by history and culture, and if I’d known about anthropology (and had the money) I might have gone into that field myself. And I know I’m not the only autistic to feel that way, either. 

I don’t know how much us being autistic has to do with it. Maybe some, maybe a lot, maybe none. Maybe, because we already have to study people a lot, it’s easy to get fascinated by it. Or maybe we have the same ratio of interest in things like anthropology as allistics do. Now that’s a study that would potentially be interesting; not how many of us go into STEM. 

Maybe? I don’t know. I mean, if there’s something I’m not good at, but I really want to be, I’ll focused a lot of energy and determination into getting good at it, but I don’t know if that’s an autistic trait, or if I’d be like that anyway.

I do think sometimes we can feel pressured by society to be good at things so people won’t act like we’re worthless, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re a bit more prone to putting effort into things we’re not very good at. Beyond that, I’m not sure. Anyone else have thoughts/experiences on this?

One’s place on the spectrum can change from day to day, sometimes even from hour to hour. It’s not at all a static thing.

Many things affect our coping abilities. It may be that the past year has been more stressful for you in some way that is depriving you of coping skills, thus requiring you to stim more, causing more meltdowns and making you more sensitive to sensory stimulation. Speaking as someone whose been under a lot of stress this year, I’ve had a number of problems including such raised sensitivity to sensory stimulation that there have been foods I can’t eat. 

Spending time passing can also lower your ability to cope. Really, anything too stress, too traumatic, too painful—all these things can potentially cause heightened symptoms. It can help to find ways to combat the overstimulation: Carry something to stim with if you have any sort of tactile stims (I keep a satin ribbon with me); use an iPod or sound-dampening headphones to cut down on noises that bother you and stress you out; choose clothing that you’re as comfortable as possible in; eat foods with textures that comfort you. (If any of my hedgehogs have any other useful coping methods, hit up my inbox.)

I wouldn’t worry about whether this is some other disorder at this point. It’s perfectly within the nature of autism and we all go through up and down phases when it comes to dealing with everything life throws at us. 

Well, I can only speak for myself, but not only do my interests tend to shift, they come in different levels. Like, I get very surface fixations, and then I’ll want stuff to do with that fixation, and that can be as simple as buying a bunch of things in a color I’m fixated on. Other things run much deeper, and I’ll continue learning about them and being interested in them my whole life. 

Like, for example, there was a period where I was fixated on owls, and wanted to collect lots of owl stuff. That waned. But I’ve been interested in history and archaeology for a long time, and though sometimes I don’t spend a lot of time on it, it always comes back. (I also have a very special place in my heart for maritime disasters.)

Very few of my interests go away, but the intensity of them changes. I’ve heard of other autistics who, for example, learn everything they can about a special interest and then aren’t interested anymore. Based on what I know about my followers, my guess is that there are a lot of different (and perfectly normal) ways that we interact with our special interests. So I’d guess that your experience is no more unusual than any of ours.