When Interests Become Anchors: Understanding special interests in neurodiverse families

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

When I listen to a conversation, I imagine a tennis match. It might be a hard analogy for most people to understand. To my brain, it’s simple: one person serves, then the other returns. Sometimes the ball bounces while the one on the receiving end thinks of a response. Other times, the person runs up to the net if they’re ready with a quick-witted response.

I taught myself the back-and-forth of conversations as a child using tennis. Eventually, the rally ends, and it’s time to serve again with a new question or conversation topic. I even learned that often the best play is to hit the ball just inside the line. The closer to that line your words land, the more interesting they are. If you’re too far inside the line, that’s boring, and if you’re past the line, that’s socially inappropriate. The best responses are right on the line. Tennis has been a special interest of mine ever since my dad introduced me to it as a child. We’ve been watching tennis tournaments together as long as I can remember.

What are special interests?

A special interest, affectionately called a spin, is a deeply meaningful, intense focus on a specific topic or activity. Special interests can bring joy and serve as a coping mechanism. A special interest is more deeply immersive than a regular hobby. An individual often dedicates significant time and energy to learning about, collecting, or engaging with the subject. They can easily feel all-consuming. They can sometimes even be overwhelming if the individual is neglecting other responsibilities because of being preoccupied with their interest. Special interests are typically associated with autism, but are common among both neurodivergent and neurotypical people.

Some special interests seem to be part of a person’s life from birth. Other special interests are like old friends that you visit and catch up with intensely every so often. Maybe a person doesn’t think about Rome every day, but around once a year, they go deep down a rabbit hole, learning as much as they can about it. A 2021 study found that an autistic person has an average of nine special interests at a time.

Benefits of special interests

Special interests aren’t just fun; they provide real benefits, extending across all aspects of life.

They have a huge impact on mental health. A 2020 study showed that special interests relieve stress, decrease anxiety and depression, improve mood, increase feelings of contentment or joy, help with emotional regulation, aid in coping with autistic burnout, lessen the intensity of co-occurring mental health conditions, serve as a tool for increasing focus during tedious tasks, and boost self-confidence.

Special interests are also a great catalyst for making friends and finding community. Meaningful relationships and expertise in a field both lead to increased self-esteem.

Many people find careers related to their special interests. For example, Greta Thunberg said her career is the result of a nearly life-long special interest in climate change.

Challenges associated with special interests

Despite all these benefits, special interests can also play a role in the disabling experiences associated with autism.

While a special interest can help find a community, it can also isolate a person from people who have different interests.

Sometimes it can be hard to switch from a special-interest-related activity to a different activity. This can interfere with daily routines and self-care.

Autistic rigidity combined with a very narrow focus on one thing can lead to resistance to trying new things.

Individuals might have difficulty showing interest in other topics, which makes conversations with other people difficult.

In some cases, a deep preoccupation with their own special interest can lead to an intolerance of different views. Personally, I struggle to understand people who don’t like Star Trek, because Star Trek is objectively the greatest show that was ever made. If you don’t like Star Trek, what are you even watching on TV? …Sorry, I’m still working on it.

Our special interests

Neurodiverse special interests are amazing. Everyone’s special interests are different, and sometimes they may seem “weird” to others, but they often reveal so much.

Outer space

Star and I have a special interest in space. We go out of town to see the stars together every new moon. Space is meaningful to a person who needs space. When you feel cramped in your shared bedroom, in a house full of six people, and there’s nowhere to go to be alone, it makes sense to be interested in space, where everything is so unfathomably far apart. When you can’t leave home without being bombarded by sights, sounds, and smells of a hundred different people, it makes sense that an area of beautiful nothingness would be awe-inspiring. And when this world seems like a sinking ship, it makes sense to dream about planets and galaxies where no man has gone before.

Snakes

I also have a special interest in snakes — misunderstood creatures, viewed negatively by many people. Snakes’ sensory systems are among the most specialized in the animal kingdom. Pit vipers actually have extra adaptations that allow them to detect changes in the environment that other snakes can’t. They can detect temperature changes as small as one-third of a degree Fahrenheit. I relate to pit vipers. I, too, detect things that other people don’t, like the itchy label on my t-shirt, the sunlight reflecting off the shiny plastic in the corner of the room, and the ​echo on the sound system at the masjid​. Snakes prefer solitude and don’t like to be touched. Snakes are my people.

Sharks

Heart’s special interest, sharks, are similarly misunderstood. Humans kill more sharks than sharks kill humans. Heart’s favourite shark is the whale shark: the largest fish in the world, a gentle giant that sometimes allows swimmers to hitch a ride on its back. This beautiful fish is endangered due to human hunting. It makes perfect sense to me that this little girl with a heart of gold, who doesn’t seem to fit in with many others her age and is sometimes picked on at the playground, would relate to the whale shark. And that she would love all sharks despite others’ negative perception of them; that she would love and appreciate them simply because others don’t.

Sometimes, to an outsider, these special interests look like hobbies or obsessions. A special interest can often seem irrational. It can seem like a waste of time, but it’s not; special interests are deeply meaningful to the person holding them. Special interests can often be a lens through which an autistic person understands the world around them.

Finding the deeper meaning behind special interests

Any special interest can be understood on a deeper level. It’s never just “something interesting;” there’s a deeper reason why a person forms an attachment to a certain topic. Tennis is just a game to many people, but to me, it’s far more than that – a tool through which I taught myself the dynamics of conversation, for example. Here are a few of my other special interests and a brief explanation of why they’re meaningful to me:

• Math, physics, and coding. You might find this strange, but I love learning formulas and equations that help me make sense of the chaos around me. I used to spend hours after school rewriting my notes for math and physics, and then looking things up at the library, because I found it so fascinating. I think of math and physics as the language of creation, and coding is a way to communicate clearly without adding all the fluff.
• Mysteries. My autistic pattern-recognition skill helps me see what’s important and what’s a red herring. Solving puzzles is calming; it’s like removing one more question from a world full of questions.

• Anne of Green Gables. I loved Anne Shirley growing up and still do. Anne experiences her emotions very strongly and often misunderstands social norms. She has a vivid imagination and a rich internal world. I learned about life through Anne.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Wonderland is an illogical place, and Alice has to navigate through it. I relate strongly to the feeling of travelling through a world that doesn’t make sense and seems to have arbitrary rules. Alice makes a constant effort throughout the story to try to understand and follow the bizarre social norms of Wonderland. In the end, Alice finally rejects the nonsensical rules of the deck of cards. To me, the story represents an autistic person’s journey to find authenticity and stop seeking validation from others.
• Knitting. I will never not be amazed by a single strand looped and twisted around itself to form a garment; I feel knitting is a metaphor for life with all its twists and turns, you knit one stitch at a time, but somehow in the end it turns into something.
• Fitness. Fitness is simple, repetitive, and goal-oriented. I spend most of my time lost in my brain, so exercise helps me connect my mind and body.
• The Qur’an. The Qur’an has been a special interest since I first opened it and decided to accept Islam. I spent a lot of time thinking about this to figure out exactly why it became such a deep interest. I think it’s because the Qur’an is the only thing I’ve found that has taken away that feeling of being different. When I read the Qur’an, I’m not the “other” anymore. I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m supposed to do, reading the Words of the One who truly understands.

I hope this post helps you better understand special interests, why they’re so beneficial and necessary, and also how they can sometimes be a detriment if not accompanied by support. Everyone has a special interest to some extent; what does yours mean to you?