The use of the Internet and having AS, Autism & or learning difficulties

[LikeyouToMe]

I have posted this as a blog too, but thought I would post it here too, to see what people think.


I've been thinking recently and was wondering how people feel and or cope with the changes companies and or website owners roll out periodically? And if the companies even care at all about how much this can affect people? I know that with a lot of sites, they do put testers out there for people to try out and such but with sites like Facebook and YouTube putting their updates out without any warning and can change from day to day, I was wondering if they think about these things.

Every thought anyone has when creating a website is generally geared towards usability (generally) and those who are not internet savvy, also those who are not exactly going to be winning any spelling bee any time soon, but are they or is there any thought about those with learning difficulties who have attachment problems that when faced with some of the drastic changes some sites have implemented?

A friend has been freaking out about yet more changes YouTube has rolled out (I'm hating the ******** timeline of comments that you have to search through all comments to find what comment they replied to) and was tweeting about how anxious it makes her. She has since told that she is even worse when she gets new technology, like a new phone will cause her to have mini breakdowns for days and more until she gets used to it.

I am under no illusion that the people who run websites will 99% of the time do whatever they want, and as with the case of the most recent update on Suicide Girls, will continue with a whole overhaul and new look, even with ever rising distaste for the look and the constant problems but it just intrigues me to know if they even think of those that aren't stupid but just have problems with change and learning new things.

 

[Bellatrix]

Yes, I can relate to this, because I used to work for a fairly large telephone company that, for no reason whatsoever that I could discern, would introduce random changes to our procedures and work routines that consistently drove me nuts. To this day I cannot understand why any of the changes that were made were at all necessary or justifiable, even though the reason given (if any reason was given at all) was to 'improve efficiency', even though the creation of confusion could hardly be said to lead to such an outcome. Change for its own sake is almost never a good idea, it usually leads to the disorientation and befuddlement of those who have no say in it, so why do those who run these large organisations do this?

 

[AsheSkyler]

If the change is severe enough I'll abandon the website altogether. Some sites I used to go to are completely gone now, like Myspace. I don't know who bought the domain, but it ain't Myspace anymore.

As for my own website, I usually goof off with the colors regularly and I alternate between having the navigation under the header or in a sidebar. I'm pretty much the only one who goes to the main site anyway so it doesn't really matter.