Reasons why we don't like "change".

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I think some of the reasons why people with Asperger's often don't like change is because: 1) "Autism Acceleration." 2) Short-term memory struggles. 3) Struggle seeing the "bigger picture." 4) Intense-narrow focus. 5) Executive functioning struggle. 6) Struggle multitasking- learning new things often involves multitasking. If you feel there's other reason or agree/dissagree with the reasons mentioned here, please comment.

It also causes anxiety and you wonder what are you going to do, too much change. One change can cause a bunch of other change and sometimes the anxiety is irrational. You know the change is no big deal but you can't help the feeling. Also another thing is having to start over and figuring out how to do it and then having to get used to the new routine. Also it might be about control so a change occurs, you feel things are out of control so when you have a routine and know what to expect, you feel in control. These are the reasons for me for dislike of change.

What is "autism acceleration?" I have never heard that term before. I think some of it has to do with control also. Since so many things in our lives seem out of our control, we really like to exert control over what we can.

takes me a while to get used to new ways of having to do things.

If things don't change, I don't have to learn anything new. Learning to cope with too many unexpected alterations in my environment can cause me to make mistakes, and I don't like screwing up, I draw a lot of my self-confidence from my ability to get things right. If I've done a thing well a few times before in a particular set of circumstances, I can afford to feel confident that I can do it again unless something changes and pulls the rug from under my feet. I think that such changes have messed up my performance so often that these days I automatically feel anxious if I notice anything that's not the same as it was last time.

^^^ you said the key words, unheralded change more often than not "pulls the rug out from under my feet."

I don't mind change if I'm driving it. Sweeping changes are fine then.

In a sense those aren't changes, because I've played out the scenario (moving houses, refactoring code, etc) in my head and can see it all, so the rest is just acting it out and adapting sometimes. So, in my mind, the change is done once I've "seen" it in my mind.

If it is some mental model that I don't understand, or is in opposition to the model I have in my mind, then it's really hard.

I don't understand the neuroscience well enough yet, but it's like a resistance to changing tracks.

for me, change at its core represents suddenly having to shift attention and learn something new, on the fly. i am not naturally talented in that regard.

yeh, I suppose i'm slightly better at doing things on my own schedule than if somebody commanded me to do them on the spot.

I don't hate change as much as unexpected change. Sometimes I make changes in my routine just for the heck of it. What really irks me is when I'm planned to do something, and then someone drops out, and it doesn't happen, or my mom suddenly wakes me up early because we're going some place that she didn't mention to me. If I can get notified of changes sooner, then I am able to handle it a lot better.