Imagine a world where everyone liked and was fascinated with the same things as you. Hard to imagine, right? As much as we all wish for there to be someone who is just like us, that isn’t the case. In my 25 years of living experience, I’ve noticed that humans and and will attract those who are similar to them. There are psychology and communication theories that support this argument. We all have at least one similarity with someone out there. Even if they seem like they are complete opposites of us. We tend to make friends with people due to common interests and common life experiences.
What does this have to do with being autistic or having ADHD? Well, since the autism spectrum is nowadays viewed as a circle rather than a straight line. The image below is a visual of what the autism spectrum looks like.
One of the areas that is common in autistic individuals is hyper fixations. This is when you are completely immersed in a certain subject and/or topic by engrossing yourself in it. When I was younger, the common misconception on autistic individuals was a hyper fixation in planes, trains, and automobiles. None of those were my cup of tea. I would play with toy cars at my grandparent’s house growing up, but I never really go into the idea of learning more about them or being obsessed with them. However, my hyper fixations have changed over the years. A common theme in my hyper fixations over the years I’ve discovered is pop culture.
Pop culture, one of the most influential things that has ever happened to society. It is and can be a conversational topic just because of all the subparts. How is pop culture a hyperfixation for an autistic individual? Apparently, when I was younger, it wasn’t looked at as a common hyperfixation for girls who are on the spectrum just because it is a topic that can be brought up in everyday life. This was one of the times where people would tell my mom that, “she doesn’t appear to be autistic because…” Well, guess what? It is!
When I look back at all of the things I was hyper fixated in, they include: The Sound of Music (1965), Garth Brooks, Robots (2005), Sky High (2005), the Backstreet Boys/*NSYNC, the Princess Diaries films (2001-2004), High School Musical trilogy (2006-2008), Hannah Montana (2006-2009), Jonas Brothers, Harry Potter franchise (2001-2011), Hunger Games trilogy (2012-2015), the Marvel Universe (2012), Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, Tom Holland, Friends TV show (1994-2004), Disney movies, and Disney Parks. Those are just some examples of my hyper fixations from over the years. Seems like pretty “normal” topics to be into, right? They’re conversational and broad topics that people can discuss regularly. Ask anyone who knows me and knows me well, when I get immersed into one of my hyper fixations I either talk about them constantly or my ADHD impulsivity takes over and I end up with merchandise from whatever I’m hyper fixated on at the moment.
Speaking of my pop culture hyper fixation, this last week, I was lucky enough to attend FanX Comic Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was my third time ever attending the convention. Anyone who has been to a convention knows that you can have the chance to cosplay (which is dressing up as your favorite fictional character). This year, I chose to cosplay two blonde icons. Cher Horowitz from Clueless (1995) and the fairy Tinkerbelle. On the last day of the convention, I attended a panel that talked about the influence of pop culture in society. The people who hosted it, run a podcast that talks about pop culture. One of the things that was talked about was how you can either embrace being part of a fandom or immerse yourself into it, which I thought was so relevant to the convention. I’ve seen some people who end up spending thousands of dollars on their cosplays just for the convention and some people don’t dress up, but still participate.
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