No. Never felt the need to. I had parents that supported them. My main special interest was/is meerkats. Also the one that caused me so much strife and why I HATE Meerkat Manor with a burning passion. It made it "cool" to like meerkats whereas I was bullied (even by my own family) for liking them. Now everyone's running around claiming to be obsessed with meerkats. No your not, Honey. Oh but I am. No, you just think you are, Honey. Look, you're really cute about it but you're not "obsessed" with them. Believe me, when the next fad comes out, you will think you are 'obsessed" with that and forget all about meerkats. And they did. If I grew up in the UK, I'd hate "Compare the Meerkat" too because people would have constantly been running up to me shouting "Simples".
But anyway, my parents mainly accepted and supported my special interests. My mom threatened to take away my meerkat pictures and plushies when I had meltdowns or when I did something she perceived as "rude" but she never went through with it. Plus she would get these migraines and neurological things that changed her into a completely different person for a time. But most of the time she supported me. "I did not know if you had this meerkat plushie already but I got him for you anyway. If you already have this one, maybe you can sit them next to each other and say they are identical twins?". I never had the plushies she randomly found either so no meerkat plushie twins.
But no, I never hid my special interests. If people had a problem with my special interests, those people were just not people for me. I was the stereotypical "autistic loner" and did not really want friends for the sake of having friends so I was happy to be alone with my special interests. I did eventually find friends who shared my special interests and those were the friendships that lasted for decades and are STILL going strong.
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Spell meerkat with a C, and I will bite you.