Autistic Hedgehog
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I was scrolling archive and found the post 'it's not a special interest it's a hobby' or something like that. What's the difference? Like I don't fully understand what a 'special interest' is and how it's NOT a hobby?
Anonymous
As the person who submitted the meme put it:
Why is it that everything and anything an autistic person shows interest in, or proficiency for is a “Special Interest”? I know the difference between my perservations and my hobbies and general interests, thankyouverymuch.
Basically, the problem is that autistics aren’t really allowed to have hobbies. If we like something, it all tends to get classified as a “special interest” and while that may seem like the same thing, it’s not when it’s applied to us.
For us, a “special interest” is a marker of our autism, which is why the term “special interest” gets used rather than “hobby.” Everything we like must be a symptom in the eyes of certain allistics, and I believe that’s what the OP meant. That it’s frustrating that we can’t enjoy something without it being inextricably linked to our autism by other people.
We do have things we fixate on and yes, that can be related to the autism. But some things really are just hobbies and classifying them as “special interests” is a way a number of allistics (especially psychologists and psychiatrists) Other autistics.
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