Special interest (autism)

[2] Autism rights advocates and psychologists say this binary of acceptable "passions" and pathologised "obsessions" is unfair.

[17] They were tied to a condition today considered autism by Soviet child psychiatrist Grunya Sukhareva (Груня Сухарева) in 1925.

[21] Bender and Schilder's contemporaries like Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner also wrote about the matter, which was important to the development of autism awareness.

[27] In adults, engaging with special interests has been shown to have positive outcomes for mental health,[28] self-esteem,[29] and can be used to manage stress.

[35][36] Autism acceptance proponents encourage autistic people to embrace their special interests, as long as they are not interfering with other parts of a person's life.

[38] Special interests may lead to social difficulties if the person does not want to discuss any other topic, and conversations may become one-sided[2] especially when infodumping.

[41][42] She explained to The Guardian in 2021, "A lot of people with autism have a special interest that they can sit and do for an eternity without getting bored.