#Autistic special interests are really about hierarchy of motivations…
I spend a lot of my time being pissed off at interruptions/intrusions/diversions to whatever I happen to be focussed on in that moment, however compelling or tedious it happens to be.
If, however (as just happened), someone asks me a question about stationery, or dog breeds, or the astronomical tides, or the philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement, I’m going to drop literally ANYTHING else I’m doing to deal with that.
The dodgiest example of this is when I’m driving, and I see someone walking an interesting dog… 8-|
And now I consciously understand how it works, I see that I intuitively have been working it against fellow monotropic neurodivergents my whole life - parents, siblings, colleagues and PhD supervisors - to derail their efforts to talk about things I don’t wanna talk about. 😳
@drandrewv2
I am known to drive of the road in order to engage with what the person in the other seat is trying to tell me. 🤣 (noone got hurt)
But really if I did not have uninterrupted space to myself, I'd never get anything done. My self defense is to make people around me engage with whatever I happen to be focused on at the time. Can be annoying I guess, but can also create intense closeness. It's a lifetime of learning how to respect these things, both inside myself as in others and find wise ways to deal with it socially. @actuallyautistic
It’s one of my favourite things about my crosswired brain (and a lifesaver during episodes of insomnia) that I’ve always had significant control over my hypnagogic state, though it wasn’t until a few years ago that I found out what it was and that not everyone can (or maybe they just don’t know how?)
I do similar for software design. Not explicitly visual although it does feel like the same brain space - shifting, sliding, rotating as I do with visual imagination, until things seem to fit or resonate.