5 common Obsessive interests of those with autism
Written on 8th May 2015 by Alex Lowery
It is well known that many people with autism will have one or maybe more Obsessive interests in a particular subject. I thought it would be a fun idea to list some of the most common Obsessive interests that you’ll find individuals with ASC have. I’m on the autistic spectrum and I have some Special interests, but the ones I am talking about today are not necasserely mine. I have (or have had) some of them, but this list is more about the most common Obsessive interests found in people on the spctrum. You can read about the Obsessive interests that I have or have had here. Some are more common in Low Functioning autism and others are more common in High Functioning autism. Also, one very important point is that you will no find every one of these intersts in only one preson with autism. Some people on the spectrum may not have interests in any of these things. Autism is very idividual afterall.
1. Thomas the tank engine
Thomas the Tank is a very common Obsessive interest that you’ll likely find among children (or maybe even some adults) with autism. Many children with autism will be at the point where they will want to watch Thomas 24-hours a day. I was obsessed with Thomas a child. At the ages of 3 and 4, Thomas was one of the few comforts I had in this world as nearly everything else scared me. As you probably know, Thomas is a blue engine, and as a result of this eveything I had as a child had to be blue, even Ice-Cream! It also seems fairly common for other children on the spectrum to be obsessed with blue. On World autism awareness day, some people even start wearing blue clothes and light their house up blue to raise awareness of autism. I wonder if the common obsession with blue is the reason why, but I don’t know this as a fact, so don’t quote me on it. You can read something the Nationl Autistic Society wrote about Thomas here.
2. Trains
It’s funny how as well as Thomas the train being a common interest, trains in general are often fascinating to both children and adults with autism. I’ve met several people with autism who seem to have such an interest in the railway. I’ve met some people on the spectrum who seem to know everything there is to know about trains, and could talk about them for hours! Many seem to memorize the whole train timetable and be able to tell you which will be going where and everything. Trains are not one of my interests. I really know hardly anything about the train timetable, and often (if anything) find it rather confusing. However, I do find that I do somewhat enjoy the trin more than any other form of public transport. Something about being on the train is very chilling, and I even like the noise that the train makes.
3. Mathematics
Let me just clarify that just how good a person with autism is a mathematics is varies greatly. There are many people with autism who really, really struggle with maths like me. However, there are some who are simply brilliant at maths and are obsessed with numbers, and could talk about division and algibra for hours. When it comes to autism, maths is probably more black and white than it is with neuro-typicals. While there are NT’s who are brilliant at maths an NT’s who are terrible, as a general rule they’ll probably be average. However, people with autism are brilliant very often and also terrible very often. Now, I’m not saying you can’t be averagre at maths and still have autism because you can. There are defenitly people with autism who aren’t abnormal either way. I’m just saying it’s more likely to be one way or the other than it is for normal people.
4. IT
Many people with autism are very good at Computers and are very interested in how the computer works. There are even software companies who have emplyed people with autism for their attention to detail and knowledge. You can read about it here. I’m not exactly brilliant with computers. I couldn’t take one apart, but I’m still pretty good at using one. I enjoy using all of the hshort-cuts to different things you have on the keyboard, and get irritated when people do certain things things on the coputer when there’s an easier way of doing it.
5. Sci-fi 
A lot of people with autism seem to have an interest in Science Fiction. They may be interested in Superheroes, reading Marvel and DC Comics. Star Wars and Star Trek are common interests of those with autism as well as Doctor Who. I am a rather big Star Wars fan. My favorite episode is probably The Empire Strikes Back but I like all 6 of them, even The Phantom menace. I also like a lot of the Marvel and DC films. I prefer DC to Marvel because it’s generally darker and the characters have more depth. I went through a faze of being really obsessed with the TV show, Smallville. I’ve got all 10 seasons on DVD. I also like the series ‘Heroes’, which I’ve got on DVD. I’m not really into Star Trek though. I quite like Doctor Who, although I’ve seen hardly any of the Classic series. I also like fantasy things like the Lord of the Rings. It seems quite common for people on the spectrum to be interested in Science Fiction books/films/TV shows.
Those are the five I’ve decided to list. I did write an artile on weather or not I thought Obsessive interests were bad. You can read that here.
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Seems more the typical male interests rather than general interests.
Maybe that’s because most Aspies are male. I’m female and highly interested in 4 of the 5.
As a dad of an autistic teenage boy who has very poor communication skills , how do I try to get inside his mind to better understand how he is feeling or coping with life ,
His communication and verbal interaction is very poor ,if I ask a question he will reply by repeating the very question ,lately he has become aggressive in nature and I’m struggling to help as I can’t understand what’s making him so upset and angry ,he suffers a lot with anxiety but I feel helpless ,
Any thoughts on how I might better connect with him ,
Regards.john Quinn
I have Autism Spectrum Disorder too. I would not ask him questions directly. I always used to freeze up completely when people asked me questions. Before I was diagnosed, I wrote my doctor a letter to describe my feelings and thoughts, because I couldn’t get my words out when I was sat next to him. If he is able to communicate in a written form, then ask him to write his thoughts. If he cannot write, then I am pretty sure there’s some sort of sign language which can be learnt (I saw a video of this).
With regards to the agression. In my experience, if I have 2 choices of what I can do, e.g. should I call someone, or should I not call someone, or should I play a video game, or should I watch a DVD, this is when problems start – I kept opening/closing my DVD player several times the other week because I found it impossible to move away from what I was doing. You should only ever give an autistic person a single choice in what to do and tell them to do it, and if that means doing the same thing all day, then that’s ok. If you want to know how to get inside an autistic mind, then you should consider that it’s like being (figuratively speaking) stuck at the bottom of a deep hole walking around and around it all day long, sometimes you want to get out but cannot, and sometimes it’s ok and quite comforting in your own little space. The autistic person cannot see out of this place, but other people can see in.
What about video games like Minecraft, Roblox, and Pokemon?
Yes those too
This is so stereotypical
Well, I can see what you mean but I wasn’t saying all autistic people have these interests. They are just common interests to be found.
People tend to criticize us about our interests. The general population calls them obsessions, which I find to be highly insulting as a woman on the spectrum. The terms I prefer are “special interests” or “passions”
I am an older woman, and they weren’t testing people for autism when I was a kid. I think I have high-functioning autism. The only thing holding me back from being sure, was not knowing if I had an obsessive interest. You list sci-fi as being a common one. I am more into epic fantasy and superheroes, but I love soft sci-fi too. I have to have my daily fix! Thank you for this article, you really helped clear things up in my mind. 🙂
My special interests as an autistic 57 year old:
Learning about weather forecasting and meteorology,
Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune, Doctor Who, Marvel and DC, graphic novels, TV series and films.
I am an autistic adult of 57 and my special are interests are learning about the weather and weather forecasting, Sci-fi and Sci-fi fantasy graphic novels, TV series and films as well as Marvel and DC graphic novels, TV series and films