I'm not concerned about it and I don't think that it's something that should be gatekept tbh. There are experts in their fields who aren't autistic who would absolutely meet the (honestly kinda vague and undefined) criteria of having a special interest.

At the risk of starting a struggle session, I strongly dislike the term special interest entirely and I reject using it except where it's necessary or when someone else is using it to refer to their own stuff because it's not my place to step on someone else's identity. The reason that I dislike it is because the disabled community overwhelmingly rejects the term special needs because it's stigmatising and pathologising.

While special interests is much more positive, the connotations of "special" used in this context still directly apply to this imo. It's also an example of euphemising, just like the term special needs does - at least saying high support needs is descriptive and relatively neutral with regards to value judgements.

I would be, because I hear about an SI and assume the person is neurodiverse I guess. Since the INFERIOR NEUROTYPICAL MIND (/j) is incapable of producing a good infodump and all. I want your special interest infodump if I'm asking, but there's some kind of an unspoken social rule against infodumps perpetuated by neurotypicals. So.

TL;DR a bunch of antisocial reactionary bullshit

no, it's neutral enough of a concept, the 'interest you have more especially than others' can be an acceptable interpretation to bridge the gap between neurotypicality and neurodiversity with enthusiasm of interest.

what i wouldn't find acceptable is an NT using Hyperfixation to describe their interest in something

I just assume that person is ~~neurodiverse~~ neurodivergent I think

Depends, the term is used in industry and medicine to denote a non-formal specialisation sometimes.

As for your specific example, I think it would be mildly annoying but not something to make a big deal out of.

I generally encourage it when I notice neurotypicals trying to approach the idea that there might be something ND about them. I shut them down when they say shit like "everyone has a little ADHD" or "I'm autistic about" or the like

Only when I hear the phrase "special interest group".

actually as long as we keep the original definition of being a strong, comfort-building, possibly even intrinsically meaningful interest for the person involved, I think it shouldn’t be gatekept, specifically because neurotypes seem to vary a ton and there’s no reason to assume someone couldn’t develop special interests while not otherwise showing many symptoms of neurodivergency

All I can say is, they better know more about their special interest than I do, unless it happens to also be one of mine. Otherwise they just completely missed the whole concept and they're going to hear way more about it than they ever wanted to.

No? Did this terminology become special at some point and I not realize it? I’d honestly just equate it to something like it means a lot to them. What’s it supposed to mean?

"Bothered" probably isn't quite right, but I'm very particular about vocabulary and would end up asking if they actually meant "special interest" or were just being emphatic if they didn't start infodumping.

No because I associate "special interests" with corruption in politics and business so I would just find someone silly for saying it in any other context

I'm not sure the term special interest has anything to do with neurotypicality. I think it's just "Im very fond of this particular thing and it's a hobby I take seriously". In my experience, it's unrelated to other usages of the term "special", at least in regard to special as a neurodivergent term.

i'd prefer to have the shibboleth but treadmill go brrrrr