Can an Autistic Be Too Old to Get a New Special Interest?

Autistic and wondering if getting older means a “burning out” of your capacity for new special interests?

Or can Autistics over 60, even 70, still acquire new special interests that magically unfold?

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: An autistic individual doesn’t choose an obsession; it chooses them.

I’m a classic example. Had someone told me, when I was 11, that “One year from now, all you’ll want to talk about is sharks,” I would’ve thought they were nuts.

I had NO interest in sharks, or any sea life, for that matter. It was completely non-existent, even though I knew what sharks were, had heard of some movie called “Blue Water, White Death,” had seen its promo image, and had once seen a movie at home where men in a submarine were trying to attract sharks by shooting big packets of blood to the surface. None of that did anything for me.

Then “Jaws” came out … and the rest is history!

Same with wood chippers. ME? Interested in a piece of machinery? Yeah, right! I would’ve thought you were off your rocker if you had told me, “In 30 days, you’re going to be hyperfixated on wood chippers.”

But after, by chance, hearing on the news about a local wood chipper death, I went down that proverbial rabbit hole.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t begun realizing, “I’m autistic!” until I was 58, and got my diagnosis at 59.

Since then, I’ve had only two new special interests: eye contact, and autism. The eye contact one has been downgraded to NT level, but the one for autism remains fierce.

But I fear that a new special interest will never find me again.

Prior to 58, the last “new” special interest I’d had was birds – but only in the context of when they crash into windows and die.

This is a classic example of a circumscribed interest in autism: a fixation on a fine component of a parent topic.

The subject of birds is considerably broad, and to plunge into a deep dive over only fatal crashes into windows is definitely a “restricted” interest.

From that point, I had never developed any branched-off interest in birds, such as flight speeds, their vision, mating habits, different colors, etc.

There’d been a really long stretch of time between the eye contact rabbit hole and birds meeting their fate with a pane of glass.

This SPIN had occurred instantly when I was watching TV one day, and I suddenly heard a big “THUD!” against the window, as though someone had hit a tennis ball as hard as possible into it. I instinctively knew what it’d been.

I spotted a bird below on the ground, seizing and then going limp. And that did it for me. It lasted about three weeks.

And now, I keep wondering what else could I become hypefixated on, at this point in my life?

On one hand, I often reflect on how I’ve lived long enough to know about so many things and topics, and if none have ignited me by now, they never will.

On the other hand, as mentioned, I knew about sharks prior to my Jaws “phase.”

I also knew about the luge event in the Winter Olympics. It’d been one of the Winter Olympic events I’d make a point to watch, but outside of that context, I’d never had any interest in it. And then that 2010 crash happened, killing Nodar Kumaritashvili.

This didn’t make me interested in the luge as a sport, or how a luge is built, or luge world records or famous lugers. I’d gone special interest on only that 2010 crash.

I’m 63. Please, please, I want a new special interest! Two of my current SPINS are lifelong and will go with me to my grave: racial mixes and unconventional spellings of girl first names. “Verjinnea” just looks so cool!

I’ve had a SPIN for years, but not lifelong, for voluminous thick or poofy ponytails and correct use of a treadmill. These, too, will be with me forever. Needless to say, my SPIN for autism won’t be going anywhere.

But I want a few more because I want to experience a SPIN post-autism diagnosis. The ones on eye contact and autism kind of don’t count, because they’re both intertwined with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

You CAN’T force a special interest. I’ve been interested in true crime for decades, but my enthusiasm level will always remain NT-grade no matter how many more episodes of “48 Hours,” “People Magazine Investigates” and “Fear Thy Neighbor” I watch.

I can’t look at cloud formations and think, “Come on already, let’s get obsessed!” and expect my casual observation of cloud shapes to balloon into an infatuation.

Special interests in autism just happen. Magically. Spontaneously.

The spontaneity isn’t necessarily instant. I wasn’t obsessed with shark attacks an hour after seeing “Jaws” for the first time.

But the interest jumped from probably what half the country was feeling at the time to obsessive territory fairly quickly, perhaps a matter of weeks.

Not All Interests in Autism Are Obsessive

A true special interest has an obsessive or overly intense component, which can often be observed by other people.

For example, talking too much about the topic; the fixation can also come in the form of viewing it, collecting it or memorizing huge amounts of data on it, and even obsessively blogging about it.

Another hallmark sign is an unusually intense fascination with a really common object, such as twistie ties, license plate stickers, serial numbers on cameras, power strips and map boundaries.

Which brings me to another iconic feature of a special interest: the info dump!

Now, not every interest that an autistic person has would have any of these features, though.

We can have strong interests and even never tire talking of them without considering them obsessive or a hyperfixation.

I love talking about building muscle and all its benefits. But this is at the same level of interest that most NT personal trainers or exercise physiologists would have.

I just want to make sure that all the neurotypicals out there understand that not every hobby, not every passion and not every topic of impressive knowledge that an Autistic might have would meet the criteria for special interest.

Sometimes, the line between high enthusiasm and special interest is thick and blurry.

I’ve seen true crime documentaries in which a detective described his “obsession” over a particular case.

That’s not autistic; it’s dedication to justice.

Throughout my life I’ve had many interests and sources of intrigue. Some I classify as SPINs; others I classify as NT-grade. How do I tell the difference?

There’s just something about a SPIN that feels different than from other interests.

Separating the two could also be objective: Have I info-dumped about the same topic multiple times or at inappropriate times? Yes.

I’ve done that once with my fascination with flicker fusion rates. This was before my ASD diagnosis. I realize now that this was a SPIN. A “normal” person wouldn’t have info dumped in that context.

I write a lot about the same topics. Doesn’t mean I’m obsessed in the true sense of the word. I’m a writer.

What nonfiction feature and commentary writer doesn’t favor at least one particular, narrowed subject?

But for what it’s worth, I’ve posted over 70 articles here dedicated to why it’s wrong to hold onto a treadmill.        

Too Old to Have a Special Interest

There’s no research data on this. There could be elderly Autistics – including undiagnosed – who keep getting new special interests.

Maybe they fizzle out after several weeks; maybe some are retained while new ones just get tacked onto the list.

Maybe in 10 years I’ll develop a new, full-blown hyperfixation; but I don’t want to wait that long.

Now that I know I’m on the Spectrum, I want to have a new SPIN to run with as much as humanly possible.

Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer. She has a formal diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder.