14th July 2019
I decided “An-Autistic’s-View” needs to go through some changes and so yesterday I made some small amendments to my website to hopefully improve a few things and to introduce a new project I have been working on called “Small Talk”.
I find website design fun and interesting but it is not without its pitfalls. When I first started “An-Autistic’s-View” I had this idea for a flashing logo that cycled through the colours of the spectrum since Autism is a spectrum condition. However, I showed it to a fellow Autistic who said that he would be unable to look at the site further due to the flashing causing him discomfort. I therefore decided to lower the cycle rate at which the colours changed until it was something he could view comfortably. He also suggested a landing page so you could avoid the flashing all together. Of course I wanted to encourage people to view my site not turn them away, so I made these changes to the initial set up.
Yesterday I decided to remove the flashing logo altogether from my site and have a static logo and no landing page. The main reason I decided to do this was due to a video I saw recently on Twitter where someone had posted themselves having a seizure brought on by strobe lights. Okay, my cycling colourful logo was not what I would call “strobe flashy” but then I don’t suffer from seizures. I would be mortified to think that I have caused someone that distress. Therefore it had to go.
So now when you go to my website you are not greeted with a landing page asking if you want flashy logo or not but straight to the website content itself.
The next change I have made is to remove the “Texts” page. This is where I had written a few short stories. I decided to delete this page as I did not contribute much to it. I have a couple of ideas for stories still, but with how busy I am, it would be a long time before I would write anything. Plus I enjoy writing my blogs which satisfies my writing needs. Therefore it had to go too.
In it’s place though will be a page called “Small Talk” where I will be posting a new series of short videos specifically about my Autistic life. These videos will also be posted on social media and Vimeo. Since I started making videos, the one thing that has troubled me has been the length. Most of the videos I made were twenty to thirty minutes long and took quite a bit of time to produce.
I began to wonder if in a really short video, just a couple of minutes, could I get a message across or show something of interest in such a small amount of time? The idea really took hold on me as a challenge and something that would be easier to handle in my busy life.
Therefore I came up with the title of “Small Talk” and decided I would talk about any subject related to Autistic me. My character and personality, my emotions, my actions and my thoughts which are part of me being Autistic. I cannot separate Autism from who I am – it is who I am.
So Small Talk is a personal account and will be my views and opinions only. That is not to say I won’t mention things that may or may not help another Autistic person watching but it won’t help everyone on the spectrum as every Autistic person is different. Each one will be about a topic which could be sweets, music, going to a hotel… anything.
The first “Small Talk” episode will be posted next weekend and will be on the topic of well….small talk. The only thing I want to finish with is a “thank you” to everyone who has watched or read any of my content online so far. I really appreciate it.