I'm not personally. If an NT person who's into comics says its a special interest Id be like "k". But im interested in takes here.
I'm not concerned about it and I don't think that it's something that should be gatekept tbh. There are experts in their fields who aren't autistic who would absolutely meet the (honestly kinda vague and undefined) criteria of having a special interest.
At the risk of starting a struggle session, I strongly dislike the term special interest entirely and I reject using it except where it's necessary or when someone else is using it to refer to their own stuff because it's not my place to step on someone else's identity. The reason that I dislike it is because the disabled community overwhelmingly rejects the term special needs because it's stigmatising and pathologising.
While special interests is much more positive, the connotations of "special" used in this context still directly apply to this imo. It's also an example of euphemising, just like the term special needs does - at least saying high support needs is descriptive and relatively neutral with regards to value judgements.
no, it's neutral enough of a concept, the 'interest you have more especially than others' can be an acceptable interpretation to bridge the gap between neurotypicality and neurodiversity with enthusiasm of interest.
what i wouldn't find acceptable is an NT using Hyperfixation to describe their interest in something
I would be, because I hear about an SI and assume the person is neurodiverse I guess. Since the INFERIOR NEUROTYPICAL MIND (/j) is incapable of producing a good infodump and all. I want your special interest infodump if I'm asking, but there's some kind of an unspoken social rule against infodumps perpetuated by neurotypicals. So.
TL;DR a bunch of antisocial reactionary bullshit
I just assume that person is
neurodiverseneurodivergent I thinkJust a heads-up: the term neurodiverse/neurodiversity refers to the entire span of neurotypes. Neurodivergent refers to people who are atypical in their neurotype. A person cannot be neurodiverse and more than they can be ethnically diverse; a group can have diversity but an individual cannot.
Idk man I got ADHD and autism that's pretty diverse if you ask me /a
I meant neurodivergent lol I just can't type
Depends, the term is used in industry and medicine to denote a non-formal specialisation sometimes.
As for your specific example, I think it would be mildly annoying but not something to make a big deal out of.
Honestly yes. I know I shouldn't (because the oppression we face is a result of capitalism in the end), but I can't help but dislike neurotypicals as a group, and I sure as hell don't want them to appropriate our language
All I can say is, they better know more about their special interest than I do, unless it happens to also be one of mine. Otherwise they just completely missed the whole concept and they're going to hear way more about it than they ever wanted to.
actually as long as we keep the original definition of being a strong, comfort-building, possibly even intrinsically meaningful interest for the person involved, I think it shouldn’t be gatekept, specifically because neurotypes seem to vary a ton and there’s no reason to assume someone couldn’t develop special interests while not otherwise showing many symptoms of neurodivergency
No because I associate "special interests" with corruption in politics and business so I would just find someone silly for saying it in any other context
"Bothered" probably isn't quite right, but I'm very particular about vocabulary and would end up asking if they actually meant "special interest" or were just being emphatic if they didn't start infodumping.
This is where I'm at. I think anyone can talk about "special interests", as long as they remember you can just have a regular interest. The term should be for communicating that a topic is important to you in a way other people may not be expecting, possibly something odd and specific. It shouldn't be because you feel like you need an excuse to care about something at all.
No? Did this terminology become special at some point and I not realize it? I’d honestly just equate it to something like it means a lot to them. What’s it supposed to mean?
I'm not sure the term special interest has anything to do with neurotypicality. I think it's just "Im very fond of this particular thing and it's a hobby I take seriously". In my experience, it's unrelated to other usages of the term "special", at least in regard to special as a neurodivergent term.
