Obsessive interests and me

Written on 8th Jan 2014 by Alex Lowery

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Hello. Today”s article is about Obsessive interests in autism. It”s a very common thing for those with autism to have an obsessive interest in at least one subject. Today, I”m going to be talking about a lot of the Obsessions I”ve had, or have. Note – I do go into a few of these obsessions in more detail in my book, which I”m hoping to get published.

Thomas the Tank Engine
The very first obsession I remember having is with Thomas the tank engine. When I was very little, I was totally obsessed with this programme! I had a huge collection of Thomas videos which I”d watch over and over again. There was also a cassette tape with Thomas songs on which I listened to a lot. When I was about 2, (I don”t really remember this, but this is a story I”ve been told) we went to Austria, and had the Thomas tape going on in the car. I fell asleep during the tape. When I woke up the tape was over, and I shouted, “Want Thomas! Want Thomas!” I meant I wanted them to put the tape back on. When I was 3/4, I found the world to be a horrifying place, and Thomas was one of the very few comforts I had. I used to have many nightmares and scream when asleep as a result. The only way to pacify me was to put on the Thomas video while I was asleep. This would calm me down, until the video had finished. I have now grown out of Thomas though.

Blue

My obsession with Thomas resulted in an obsession with the colour Blue (because Thomas was Blue). At one point almost everything I had, had to be in blue. I would scream if I wasn”t dressed in blue clothes and insisted on a blue cup, bowl and spoon. When my mum went to get ice-creams for us all, I insisted on a blue ice-cream. I think the ice-cream keeper looked at my mum as if she were mad!

The Muppets

I went through a stage of being obsessed with a couple of Jim Henson“s puppet shows –  specifically; the Muppets and Sesame Street.  I think I was especially obsessed with the Muppets. We owned a lot of the Muppet films, and I”d watch them over and over again. My two favourite Muppet films were The Great Muppet Caper and The Muppet Christmas Carol, but I loved all of them. When people spoke to me, I”d quite often quote the Muppets. I still have a lot of fun when watching the Muppets, but I”m not in love with them like I was.

The Chronicles of Narnia

I later developed an Obsession with The Chronicles of Narnia series. This actually started with my Dad telling me the story of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but replacing the children”s names with our names. Soon later, a friend of ours let us borrow a video of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was the BBC version from 1988. It was before the new ones by Walden Media came out. Anyway, I really enjoyed this video, and soon wanted to watch the rest of the Narnia videos. So they became targets for me to work for in my therapy. When I watched the others, I really enjoyed them too. Unfortunately, only four of the Narnia books had been adapted into films. When the newer film of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe had come out, I got the BBC audio books of all 7 of the Narnia stories. I loved all 7 of them! I”m still a hard-core Narnia fan of the books, but I”m not quite obsessed like I used to be. My favourites are the Horse and His Boy and the Last Battle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geography

I also developed an interest in Geography. We had a book called “Window on the World” which went through different countries and cultures. I loved this book! I also had a talking globe. With this globe you had a pen, and you can touch a country on the globe with the pen, and it can tell you anything you want to know about that particular country i.e the music they listen to, the capital city, the Prime Minister/President and more. I”d be able to name most of the countries and which continent they were in. I also had an interest in a lot of the culture”s too. We also had a CD with Geography songs, which I liked to listen to a lot. Even though there was a lot I knew about Geography, there were still parts of Geography that I didn”t know so much about. I wasn”t so good with Capitals of Countries, because that part didn”t interest me. I. also wasn”t good at Map Reading.

History

As well as Geography, I also developed quite an Obsession with History. I didn”t like all History though. The world wars bored me, but I liked to learn a lot of things from the Middle Ages and the Tudors. For a long time, I could list a lot of the Kings and Queens of England in order.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

 

When I was in my early to mid teens I was totally obsessed with A Series of Unfortunate Events. I don”t mean the film. I wasn”t really a fan of the film, but I was a huge fan of the books. I listened to all 13 of them on audiobook, and loved them! I thought they were really exciting books. I still like these books, but not like I used to. I”m finding more and more things annoy me about. There are some ridiculous things in them that make no sense, but they”re still good and I do enjoy them.

 

 

 

Star Wars LOTR & Superheros

I still have quite a few Obsessions to this day. I have a very big interest in Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings. I”ve had these Obsessions for years now. I”ve also become very interested in superheros. I don”t read a lot of Marvel or DC comics (since reading is difficult for me), but I”ve watched a lot of Superhero films, which I enjoy. My favourite Superhero is probably Batman or Spider-man. However, I”m not like an Encyclopaedia in this subject. I can”t list of every superhero and what they”re powers are. My information only comes from what I see in the films.

Autism

Another Obsession I now have is with autism. I have this condition myself, and have a very high knowledge of it. Not just from my own experiences, but from watching YouTube videos on the subject of autism. I know a lot about it, and I”ve managed to use my knowledge of this condition to my advantage. I”ve now got a Job in doing Public Speaking about autism.  I feel like I have helped a lot of people in understanding this condition better. People have told me that I”ve helped them understand autism, and it feels good to know that what I”ve said has helped people. I”d like to add that when a person with autism has an Obsession, it can sometimes be a good idea to take the Obsession and broaden it out into something that they could maybe do for a career. Some experts believe that a lot of the past inventors and scientists may have been on the autistic spectrum. A lot of them were unsociable people who had obsessions for the things they became famous for. It”s said that Bill Gates (who is the chairman for Microsoft) has Aspergers Syndrome. There `re many more who have used their obsession to their advantage. Some people think Jim Henson (the creator of the Muppets) may have been on the spectrum. It can be very hard for a person with autism to find work, so going in one”s own business with whatever support is needed can be a good thing.

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If you would like to know more you can subscribe to the blog here or follow on Facebook  here Twitter here

If you would like to book Alex to come to speak at your organisation see here

Hear Alex speaking in Llandudno in September book here.

More from Alex

Do people with autism really lack empathy

The myth that everyone with autism is a savant

How to help your teen accept and embrace their autism diagnosis

 

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