The Beautiful Energy of Super-Fanning: Exploring the Last Pillar of Autistic Culture

Catherine Flynn
Oct 23
4 min read

How the passions/special interests of autistic people create private universes and why that matters in therapy.

So I’m onto the last pillar of autistic culture – passionate super fanning. And what a great one it is to end on (see other articles for reflections on the other nine pillars). I love how this topic turns up in the counselling room! In my imagination while listening to clients, I’ve been a guest at a Taylor Swift concert right at the front, delved into the detail of the band Ghost, explored the various music collection of the hugest Spotify playlist ever, marvelled at whale sharks, learned all about South African rainfall and flung myself into the details of grotesque diseases.

For all of this I am full of autistic joy! There is such a huge energy in the beauty of detailed, specific deep experiences, and to have a space to share this is in itself hugely therapeutic.

The Soul-Touching Nature of Special Interests

In the podcast, Dr. Angela Kingdon discusses this aspect of autistic culture with Simon Scott, and I felt my heart nodding in agreement at how super-fanning was being described as something almost transcendental, the way it touches your soul. I found myself reflecting on the energy of it all and wondered where it has appeared in my life.

I’m not a die-hard Star Trek fan. I’m not an anime con dresser-upper. I’m not hugely into a pop band, oh no, actually, wait a minute. I have been a fan of Fleetwood Mac my whole life and have listened to all of their albums, sung all their songs, recorded them and been to their concerts. But then I think to myself, well I’m not as much of a super fan as other people are. So does that mean I’m not quite autistic enough? It’s funny isn’t it, how even now, I can still have that fleeting thought. It’s ok though. I’m still autistic! Yay.

Creating Private Universes

And this is the thing about autistic passions: we develop these relationships with them that are so incredibly intimate and special - in which we can sink into the excitement, comfort and familiarity all at the same time. In the words of Crowded House, Private Universe: “It feels like nothing matters / In our private universe”. That’s exactly what it can feel like when we’re immersed in something we love — the rest of life falls away.

Our Souls, in Languorous Gestures, plate nine from Love. Date: 1898, published 1899. Artist: Maurice Denis (French, 1870-1943)

The Spectrum of Super-Fan Energy

And I think there is a space within the super-fanning spectrum to have different ranges of super-fan energy – for it to burn like “blinded by the Light” (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, love love love that song!) for just a short burst, or loop in your head like “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (Kylie Minogue) for days at a time. Sometimes it’s an intense but seasonal love, like being “hooked on a feeling” (B.J. Thomas) or “rolling in the deep” (Adele) for months before moving on.

And then there are the lifelong special interests – the ones that stay with you always – like a “life eternal” (Ghost), or that feeling of being “forever & always” (Taylor Swift). Even “The Lucky One” (Taylor Swift) captures what it can feel like when a passion or identity becomes part of your whole life’s arc.

📻🥰 Hope you super-fans out there like the music references! 🎼🎸🎹💝💖

So maybe being a super-fan isn’t about how much or how long, but about recognising that passions can take many shapes and intensities – from a one-day obsession to a lifelong love.

Super-Fanning in the Counselling Room

How does it come up in the counselling room?

Well, if you’re with me, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be keeping an eye out for your super-fan energy and drawing it out when we happen upon it. Often it gets lost amongst the weeds of a lifetime masking that is now falling away as late diagnosis/identification dawns. We might discover that you used to love photography, or we might find your love of warhammer from years ago, or collecting pddly shaped spheres. Often the clues about your lost passions can be found in pre-adulthood pursuits.

Counselling might be the first time that someone has really genuinely taken an interest in your passions and encouraged you to info-dump. I’ve worked with a number of people who have grown afraid of talking about what they love because of the experience of being shut down by friends, family etc. Dissolving that shame is an essential part of growing strength in autistic identity.

Using Passions as Therapeutic Tools

Super-fanning might also turn up in being the energy that supports regulation and grounding in the counselling room. I weave the passions and interests of my clients into our conversation so that one minute we might be talking about a more sensitive area of human-living, and the next minute we can pivot out into super-fan territory so we can rest in its comfort and familiarity. This can even extend itself into the dimension of trauma processing, where passions can be used in EMDR or Flash (two trauma-processing techniques I use). Characters such as Dr. Who, anime characters and gaming characters have often been used to interact with the past so that healing can come about.

Max Brückner’s Collection of Polyhedral Models (1900)

My Own Pic-a-Mix of Passions

In the spirit of dissolving shame, I’m going to list the random passions that have struck me across a lifetime (not all, but this is just a number from the pic-a-mix). I’d love to read what your list is!