question for other autistic folk
Does anyone have a term for "special interest" that maybe feels less... demeaning? While also still conveying that they are special?
Or perhaps this is an internalization of "special" as a bad thing and the term is worth reclaiming? I dunno I'm conflicted on the whole thing.
question for other autistic folk
@hoppet tbh i just say interest. No need to pathologize or other my interests just because it happens to be an autistic person having them. Yes, the interests and how I think about them are different than how allistic people think about them, but the way I as an autistic person think and process everything is different, because I'm autistic.
Though this is just my personal view and others may see it differently and the way they're autism is may make it qualify as its own category, idk
question for other autistic folk
@julia yeah for some reason i feel the need to distinguish them. maybe it's an identity thing or something? who knows, brains are weird
re: question for other autistic folk
@FirstProgenitor @hoppet @julia I distinguish interests and special interests because they're different to me, especially since I have plenty of interests that aren't special interests lol. That whole "restrictive" thing isn't actually how it works for me, I have way too many interests, I just get obsessed with some of them
re: question for other autistic folk
@julia @FirstProgenitor @hoppet yeah it can get a little fuzzy for me too lol, especially if I just hyperfocused but it's just a coincidence and not my special interest
re: question for other autistic folk
@CatEntity @FirstProgenitor @hoppet yeah tbh the difference feels like a social construct for me, there's only a need to make that distinction if it's actually useful for you personally
re: question for other autistic folk
@CatEntity @FirstProgenitor @hoppet it's hard for me to tell the difference tbh (if there even is a distinct one for me idk)