Idk where in the world this got lost, and I have a sneaky suspicion that some people are once a-fucking-gain falling into the “adhd is not as serious of a disorder,” bullshit for it, so I’m gonna make a little reminder here, ‘kay?
Reminder that hyperfixation and special interest mean the same fucking thing.
This term was proposed, because those without autism, but still neurodivergent, who have the same experiences as a special interest were asked not to use the term by the autistic community, as it is a very important term to us, and we have had the language we use for our own community taken from us too much to even count.
Now let’s zoom in on allistic neurodivergent people who have the same experiences as a special interest, and what that means, shall we?
Hyperfixation is not inherently for a shorter period of time than a special interest. Both of these things can last from days to years, AND both can be as short as for a few hours too. There’s lots of diverse variation.
It is not inherently less intense of an interest. Just like special interest, a hyperfixation is always more intense than “just a hobby/a passing interest/dabbling.”
It’s not ADHD specific, and was never coined to be. Hyperfixation is an umbrella term.
It is not a hyperfocus. That’s a different term entirely. The coiner called a special interest for ADHDers a hyperfocus to begin with, but it’s usually just been called obsession. Hyperfocus actually IS by origin/nature/definition/and everything else inherently shorter and less intense than a hyperfixation. Hyperfocus is task based, and one who goes into a hyperfocus can do so on said task that is not even remotely related to their hyperfixation.
All neurodivergent people who experience Hyperfixation can(and some already do) have more than one at the same time. Yes, this includes autistic people. We can have more than one special interest at any given point.
The main experience that makes hyperfixation the same thing as special interest, is: being entirely barred from access to engaging with these intense subjects of interest will always cause mental distress. If it doesn’t then that’s not a hyperfixation or a special interest either.
Both Special Interests and Hyperfixations can seem to be “entirely and suddenly dropped,” but that’s not exactly what is actually happening. This only means that something else has captured the intense interest of the neurodivergent person with these experiences. It doesn’t necessarily mean the “dropped,” one was actually forgotten, or even dropped at all. In fact, some will come back to being that same intensely interested in that seemingly forgotten subject later on, again and again.
This post is not about who ~is allowed or not~ to use what word. You can refuse to believe someone does or doesn’t experience something all you want, but you have no place here to speculate about that on this post.
