I am tired of the special interest fight but I will keep arguing it forever if I have to.

https://mj-irl.tumblr.com/post/166638391342/fierceawakening-tatterdemalionamberite

Nope. Not even right. I know there are autistic people who say all of the things in that post, but that is not actually true.

The actual history of the term “special interest” is not that of always being used to oppress autistic people.

The fact is, the term “special interest” is often used by academics and researchers to indicate what they are currently studying the most.

The fact is, when I first began working with autistic children twenty years ago, we called all of this stuff “perseverations.”

The fact is, when I first joined the online autistic community in 2001 (no, I am not autistic but I am likewise not “allistic” so don’t call me that; I am an autistic cousin, or AC) we all called them “perseverations” and nobody was mad at me for saying that I had perseverations or stimmed or anything else like that. And we all thought I was neurotypical until 2005, when I was diagnosed with ADHD.

In the scientific literature, the term that I see a lot is “hyperfixation” in relation to autistic special interests.

And here’s another thing you need to realize: most of the things you say are used to oppress autistic people are things that are used to discriminate against developmentally disabled people in general. Even if they aren’t autistic. They could have FASD, or ADHD, or Down syndrome, or a global developmental delay, or an intellectual disability. All of these groups stim. They all have special interests. They all have similar or overlapping symptoms, behavioural quirks, and so on.

Do not gatekeep and pretend that you aren’t gatekeeping. Words are words. If a term describes your experience, use it. And don’t tell other people that they can’t use a term that accurately describes their experiences. That is gatekeeping. It is unfair.

People do not own words.

^^^^^ this I *AM* autistic AND ADHD, and it was like this FIFTEEN years ago. So enough with the gatekeeping, okay?

That “special interest” is autism-specific and people with ADHD should say “hyperfixation” instead is not a consensus of the autistic community, and the human brain is not actually configured according to our political distinctions in terminology.

My opinion is that the ADHD blog (whose author I know personally) was correct, and autism-asks is incorrect.

Neurodivergent people should be able to use the words that accurately describe what we are experiencing.  (FWIW, I am autistic, I do not have ADHD.)  Some people with ADHD experience interests or passions in a way that isn’t substantially distinguishable from the way in which autistic people experience this phenomenon.  They may not be pathologized for it in exactly the same way, but that isn’t what determines whether the experience itself is pretty much the same thing.

And like a LOT of people are diagnosed with ADHD (whether correctly or not) before they’re diagnosed with autism (whether instead of or in addition to ADHD).  Their “hyperfixations” do not suddenly become “special interests” when their diagnosis changes.

And a lot of people who don’t qualify for any specific diagnosis experience isolated features of autism, because autism is caused by the combined effects of lots of common genes.  90% of mothers of autistic kids, whether they’re autistic themselves or not, experience some kind of sensory processing anomaly.

They deserve to be able to call those experiences what they are, in a way that enables them to make themselves understood.  Nobody is helped by falsely separating out the allowed language for who is experiencing what, if they are substantially the same thing.

I do not know how things got this way, but I think some folks could stand to…learn to appreciate that some neighborhoods of the autistic and ADHD communities think of these topics a little differently than they do.  People with ADHD who subscribe to this way of talking about them are not in the wrong.

(And some of us with autism hate the term “special interest.”  Honestly, ADHD’ers can have it for all I care.)

I am kind of done with gatekeeping tbh going on like… My opinion is to agree that the ADHD blog was correct. I’m autistic and have ADHD so like… definitely not a consensus in all parts of the autistic community that it’s “appropriating” “special interest.” 

As a person that has a great deal of difficulty with words - yeah, I am done with people trying to gatekeep them.

If a word fits what you mean to say please use it. Making up new words for each subset of humanity makes communication HARDER not EASIER.

Words have meanings, not owners.

I generally agree. It’s describing the same damn symptom. I’ve heard that “special interest” is an ableist term from an abusive therapy so that’s why its autism exclusive, but I’ve never seen any sources for it so \_(シ)_/.

Actually, the term is REALLY OLD. Was not originally related to anything specific - no diagnosis or anything. Clubs and social organizations have been using it since before autism was a diagnosis (see Mensa, for example). Most older social organizations have “Special Interest” groupings of some sort, aimed at attracting people who have some really strong attachment to specific topics. It was not used by the abusive groups BECAUSE of that affiliation with respected organizations - they do not want to imply the members of elitist clubs are ‘bad’ in any way - that’s where they get their funding. The attempt to say it is “only for autistics” is just gatekeeping to try to make being autistic some exclusionary thing - and as a nonverbal autistic, I say no - do not try to make my life harder just to grab at some bit ‘exclusionism’ you (general) can use to feel special.

Honestly, ADHD person chiming in, the reason, the only reason, I use hyperfixation, is because the way I experience my hyperfixations does seem to be substantially different from the way people experience special interests.

For me, hyperfixations are intense while they last but can end up dropping themselves for the next shiny thing much more easily than it seems from out here that special interests can. (I say drop themselves because I’m not consciously doing the dropping.) They can also go latent for weeks, months, years, decades. The infodumps seem to be shorter, too. I *need* to tell you about my hyperfixation, but only for a minute or two. My hyperfixations are marked by brief, fiery intensity, where I have very little control over how incredibly focused I am on them, but they might end or pause at any time. This makes sense, as they are the subjects of my hyperfocus.

Examples:

Babylon 5 - I know a whole heck of a lot about it, can recite a lot of it, keep coming back to it…but I might go years without watching an episode. If someone brings it up, or I feel wounded inside and need reliable comfort, though, Babylon 5 comes roaring back. I go through cycles of hyperfixation with Babylon 5.

Second Life - When I did it I did it for hours a day. I loved it intensely. I did cool things with it. I shut out the world when I was on it. It was all I wanted to talk about. Then it stopped running well on my computer and I found other things to do and *poof* hyperfixation gone.

If an ADHD person has a special interest, they should probably be allowed to describe it as a special interest. However, if I say I have a hyperfixation, I don’t mean special interest, and I would be frustrated if someone labelled it one.

Is why I said “If a word fits what you mean to say please use it.” in my first response :D Telling people what words to use based on which subset of which divergence they might have and the color of the sky at the time they are speaking is making word salad out of what used to be perfectly useful terms.

Words have meanings, not owners.

One thing I do want to clarify.

I use “special interest” when answering the “hyperfixation” asks if I think that’s what they’re talking about, because I’m not always sure. “Hyperfixation” was proposed as an umbrella term, which means it could be used in place of “special interest” OR “hyperfocus” OR “obsession” OR any other term related to these kinds of phenomena.

In the previous uses of the term “hyperfixation” in the psych literature, it was used to mean exactly the same thing as “special interest.” This just adds to my confusion when people use it in asks. Like, I totally understand where @teasugarsalt is coming from, and that use makes way more sense to me than the way ADHDers are being told to use it.

When someone writes in asking about a “hyperfixation” I answer it the way I think the person means, and I use the corresponding term that seems to apply for two reasons: first, to make sure I’m understanding correctly; and second, to make sure the person knows the other terms are okay to use. Because a lot of people who use “hyperfixation” do so because they’ve been treated badly by other people for using a different term.

I use “special interest” for myself, as well, and sometimes when I’m answering an ask about “hyperfixation” I end up talking about my own experiences with special interests. This is another clarity issue.

The proposal of “hyperfixation” in 2015 muddied the waters way too much and I don’t think anyone has actually figured it out yet. Also, if you use “hyperfixation” in general company you may get blank looks. “Special interest” will get everyone nodding along.

wait wait wait, lemme get this straight: they want to use hyperfixation instead of special interest on the non-autistic side, but hyperfixation is used interchangeably to mean either special interest or hyperfocus (the state of being completely focused on a subject or task), depending on whom one talks to? Cause I'm raising my eyebrow really high at that

A Hyperfocusing Problem

With the whole “autism and ADHD combo” I’ve got going on, it’s either ‘all the focus’ or ‘none of the focus’. I hyperfocus when I read books. Although it can be a bit of a shock when I get so involved in a story, and then it ends so quickly. Or, what I THOUGHT was 'so quickly’. In reality, it’s been three to four hours, I reaaallllyyy have to pee, and I’m so hungry that I could eat everything in my house. But hey, if it’s a good book, it’s worth it xD