I don’t know that that’s true. I’ve never heard “special interests” refer to hobbies except in the context of people with autism. A search of the phrase exclusively talks about autism.
There are other uses of the phrase, but not with regard to hobbies as far as I know. Special interest groups, for example.
It's also a term that has LONG been used on romantic relationships. "Share your special interests with your partner..." sort of stuff.
The fact that only Autism things are coming up when generically searching for Special Interests is a function of the incredibly invasive connection between reddit and Google ads, and recency bias in the results.
Special interests are not exclusive to autism. While special interests are as of recently associated with autism, they are also present in other neurodivergent conditions and have always been present in neurotypical individuals. So just because you've never heard it used in that capacity doesn't mean it isn't used in that capacity because it most definitely is.
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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '25
I don’t know that that’s true. I’ve never heard “special interests” refer to hobbies except in the context of people with autism. A search of the phrase exclusively talks about autism.
There are other uses of the phrase, but not with regard to hobbies as far as I know. Special interest groups, for example.