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There are no words in the English language I could scream to drown you out
So I got home to discover the latest code push from Dreamwidth has effectively broken the site for me. I left a comment to that effect. It does not look as though my comment will make a difference.
I understand accessibility is complicated. This journal and DW in general was one of the few things in my life right now that did not cause me active pain. It was in fact rather sustaining. That has just sharply ceased to be the case. I have no idea what to do. I left LJ for DW. I had planned to stay here until they turned out the lights because I trusted them not to hurt me. Now my eyes hurt. I am a text-oriented person who cannot comfortably interact with the text-based form of social media which is very nearly the whole of my life online. There's nowhere to go from here. (I can't even think about the effects on my Patreon.) I am tired of being a person whose needs are disposable. I am very, very, very not happy.
[edit 2020-07-26 1:21:00] I have temporarily reverted to the old style because the alternative appears to be verging on a migraine. And perhaps in a year the horse will learn to sing.
I understand accessibility is complicated. This journal and DW in general was one of the few things in my life right now that did not cause me active pain. It was in fact rather sustaining. That has just sharply ceased to be the case. I have no idea what to do. I left LJ for DW. I had planned to stay here until they turned out the lights because I trusted them not to hurt me. Now my eyes hurt. I am a text-oriented person who cannot comfortably interact with the text-based form of social media which is very nearly the whole of my life online. There's nowhere to go from here. (I can't even think about the effects on my Patreon.) I am tired of being a person whose needs are disposable. I am very, very, very not happy.
[edit 2020-07-26 1:21:00] I have temporarily reverted to the old style because the alternative appears to be verging on a migraine. And perhaps in a year the horse will learn to sing.
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I am glad to know that. I appreciate the inside view and I appreciate the volunteer work. I don't say that ironically; if you are a volunteer, you must have been part of previous changes that either gave me no trouble or improved my experience of the site. The rest of this comment is a sort of generalized response, since I just woke up.
I don't assume that changes are made for no reason or that no deliberation or care goes into their design. I am not being facetious when I say that I know accessibility is complicated; I understand that many people interact with the internet through their phones and their ability to do so should be supported. I am not on Ravelry and had not heard about their recent issues until
I got a migraine from the code push. It did not upset me because it looked different from what I was used to; it physically hurt me. Light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, nausea, the works. I've never gotten a migraine from anything other than accidental caffeine exposure and, once, the Jordan's IMAX movie experience which I am never doing again. I had to leave the computer for the rest of the night when I had planned on doing writing work. I did not expect that from a site redesign and I don't think it was strictly a factor of the font size, since I am accustomed to zooming in or zooming out on other sites without worsening eyestrain that all of a sudden flashes over to intolerable overload. This is not a problem I can fix by just reminding myself to be flexible of others' needs. If I am going to be able to continue to use this site at all once the temporary reversion wears off, it looks as though I will have to (or have to ask
(Also, I am well aware it is not the responsibility of the dev team to deal with my history of trauma—seriously, it would be inappropriate—but the wording of the signoff stomped extremely hard on some of mine and there is nothing I can do about that except recognize the trigger and try to remind myself it's not 2006, it's not 2015, it's not personal, etc. The bomb went off and I had fewer resources for containing the shrapnel, being in unexpected pain.)
I am sorry that being a volunteer for DW feels like nothing but unending flak from all sides. I don't know what else to say. This journal is where I talk to people about things, partly so that people in comments will have useful suggestions, not just commiseration. I would like you not to feel personally attacked by my response any more than I know I should feel personally attacked by the code push. What with the world in the state it is in, no one has very much skin to spare.
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