One of the MOST frustrating things for neurodivergent people is harsh lighting. We absolutely need to have lighting that can be adjusted (either by lighting options being smart light compatible or having lighting controls) so that our senses are not overwhelmed and anxiety is kept low. This list has all the adjustable lighting that I've either used personally or a number of those from the neurodivergent community have highly recommended.
Best ceiling lights EVER. I have a large all-in-one living and dining room and so I have two of these ceiling lights and I absolutely love them. They look amazing, they give off the most beautifully softened but good lighting. I have one of these in my hallway and two on my landing. I have them fitted with adjustable smart bulbs, so I can have the lighting set to any colour (white, natural, or warm) and any level of brightness from 0-100%. It means that these ceiling lights can provide the perfect overhead lighting to suit your mood and time of the day. Overhead lighting can be one of the worst afflictions for neurodivergent people, get it wrong and it's awful to live with. I cannot recommend these enough, they are elegant, functional, and do not give off any high pitched noise you can get from some ceiling lights. Highly, highly recommend for every indoor living room, dining room, bedroom, and walkway you have. Absoltely my favourite ceiling light of all time and very neurodivergent-friendly ❤️
Vogue Tolna 3 Light Flush Ceiling Fitting
These bubble tubes are incredible for creating gentle light and calming visuals. Frankly, whether you're a kid or a grown-up, this is going to massively relax you, and you have the added benefit of not having to look after real fish! These are fantastic in a corner of the room to give that lovely gentle movement or placed in front of a mirror to create more light and movement. Lots of my neurodivergent friends have tried and liked them in both positions so just see what works for you. Such a fantastic sensory light 👏🏻
100cm Colour Changing Sensory Bubble Lamp
Where have you been all my life???! These candles are excellent. I have hyperosmia (super sensitive to scents) so I can't burn traditional candles (plus I have cats so it's safer for me to have an alternative!). I previously tried battery-operated candles, but they all looked quite cold in the light they threw off, and all had a terrible flickering effect, which really set my nerves on edge. Then I found this beautiful candle set (I have the gold coloured as they're super warm looking but the grey are stunning too). They're a sleek design, silent, and the best bit is the light they give off. It has the most warming and relaxing glow that doesn't bother my eyes. The ‘flame’ part of the candle gently bobs backwards and fowards as though it was floating in the breeze and this create a gentle movement to the light that is so realistic. Absolutely transfixed by these, they calm me down, create the most friendly glow, look fabulous and of course pet-friendly…..I think my cats love these even more than I do as they sit and stare for ages. One of my most favourite purchases 🥰
LED Candles Flameless Set of 3 Real Wax Light
Incredibly neurodivergent-friendly lights. I've tried previous strings of copper lights and they've been little pops of blinding light. These lights are nothing like that, they have a lovely gentle warm glow to each of the tiny lights on the string. The most neurodivergent-friendly are the warm lights on the copper wire in the first photo. I've wrapped them around the bamboo stalks of my fake bamboo plant in the corner of the room and so many little fairly lights in one place but all dotted about the plant create the most beautifully calm and warm glow in the corner of the room. You can have the lights on all kinds of different settings, but I find that having them just switched on without any flashing is absolutely perfect. These would work wonders in bedrooms to frame pictures and headboards and to curl up into glass jars to provide warming and soothing light. Absolutely recommend these, they're fabulous ❤️
Erchen Plug in Fairy Lights, 100 FT 30M 300 LED
It's the best sensory light projector I've come across for kids! Not only does it project clearly, but it has the option of adding white noise to help with sleep, AND has loads of settings for you to alter the noise and brightness levels so you can adjust it perfectly to whatever you need. Kids will absolutely love this. But I also know many neurodivergent adults who use these in their own bedrooms, living and office spaces, and who find them incredibly calming as well as so, so beautiful to watch. I would love for every person to have one of these in their homes to relax with. These make awesome gifts 🥰
ibell LED Star Projector Night Light 3 in 1
Such an elegant standing lamp. With the neutral colours, soft glow given off by the shade, and balance to the design, this is incredibly neurodivergent-friendly. Put a smart bulb in this to change the colour of the light (white/natural/warm) and to change up and down the level of brightness to suit your mood and you have a subtle and lovely lighting solution for your space ❤️
Monroe Floor Lamp
Best sensory projector light for adults by far! There are plenty of neurodivergent children I know of who love this, but feedback to me has been that the adults, in particular, love the gorgeous projection. If you're wanting to whisk yourself away to another part of the galaxy for some serious mental relaxation, then this is the projector for you. Fantastic in any room in your house and particularly fabulous if you're wanting to do sleepovers or parties. Incredible ❤️
BlissLights Sky Lite - LED Star Projector
Classy, elegant and neurodivergent-friendly ceiling light shade. It's so important to have ceiling light that is either entirely encased or directed upwards to diffuse the light and to stop it from beaming down that can cause anxiety and make balance issues worse. Having soft overhead lighting that illuminated the room fully is very difficult to achieve, but not if you have this shade! I chose this particularly as the design is elegant, will fit into nearly every type of decor, has rave reviews, and the simplest solution to get your ceiling lighting diffusing upwards with the easiest fitting (a lot of uplighters need the fitting to... You will love this light, I highly recommend you fit one to every ceiling light that you have as that could make all the difference to reducing anxiety. Absolutely in love with this affordable and easy solution to reducing harsh lighting ❤️
Glass Ceiling Uplighter Pendant Shade - Easy Fit
Set absolutely any tone you want to match the mood you want to have (for example, setting lights to the colour that you know makes you happy, will help to change your mood towards being happy). If you don't want a bubble tube, fibre optics, galaxy projections, or a gently glittering disco ball lighting up your room, then this light tube is a fantastic option. It's super important for neurodivergent people to get the lighting right in their safe spaces as we are much more sensitive to light than a lot of other people. You can completely take control of your lighting with this and set it it one of almost endless colour choices. Highly recommend this for a corner of a room 🙌
Govee LED Floor Lamp, RGBIC, Alexa, Google, 58 Scenes
This is two fantastic neurodivergent-friendly things in one! 🥳 First off, you have the glorious mirror ball planter. When the light hits this it will create the most beautiful and calming shimmer of lights across walls, ceilings and even in gardens....
SCANDINORDICA Disco Ball Planter – 20 cm Silver
Fantastic little light that will light you up without the terrible glare. I know many of us neurodivergents can find bright lights really stressful and can cause anxiety, so I spent a long time finding one that most people across the spectrum will find does the job with as little irritation as possible. As it's got 3 different settings (cool, natural, and warm) and you can turn the brightness up and down easily- you can genuinely choose multiple light settings that work for you - absolutely love it and much more affordable than some of the less adap...
Video Conference Lighting Kit, Full Screen Ring
Such a lovely little affordable lamp. To make your spaces as neurodivergent-friendly as possible, try to have as many lighting options as possible. These are great to put on shelves as well as side tables. They'll add a warm little glow to any area of a room and make fantastic accent lights. Add in a smart bulb to make it dimmable so you can set the light as you want it to be 👏🏻
FADO Table lamp - white 25 cm
The BEST head torch you never knew you needed. I have struggled for YEARS not being able to wear head torches as I've found them to be either too restrictive, too distracting, or the fabric to be irritating. But head torches are so much better than hand-held torches, particularly for anyone who i... I tried this particularly head torch and I was super at ease wearing it, the fabric didn't annoy me, and the light was incredibly bright in lighting up what was in front of me but didn't blind me at the same time - definitely able to tolerate wearing... Love it 🥳🫶
These smart bulbs gives the best lighting for overhead lights as well as lamps. You can pay more to get the Phillips smart lightbulbs where you can switch between cold and warm white or even colours, but I've found these warm white ones to be the best all round bulbs. I find the light to be bright but soothing at all different settings. I easily linked these up to my Alexa app and they work fantastically well. Very near to the bulbs if you use your EMF measurements gadget (found in our gadgets list) then you'll pick up a high frequency, but move a few inches away from the bulb (and we generally sit much, much further away than that) and the frequency is ve... Fantastic bulbs, I have them in every single light in my house, I love them. TOP TIP: Do not hook these up to any lights that are on a dimmer switch or you will hear them buzzing when they are set to a low brightness or they might start flickering because the tech is getting confused having a bulb brightness that can be turne... Either, choose to have normal non-smart standard bulbs, or replace your dimmer switches with traditional flick up/down switches. Once you have these bulbs, there's no going back! 👏🏻🫶
Philips Hue NEW White Smart Light Bulb 60W
It's no secret that many neurodivergent people are highly sensitive to changes in the environment - whether that's light, sound, or scent, so it's important to manage that so we are as comfortable as possible. During the months where the days are short and the weather is bad, our Vitamin D can drop and we can feel really quite sad. A lot of people report being able to manage this by having a special light lamp that mimics sunlight and that can help hugely ... This lamp is fabulous. It can be sat portrait or landscape and the brightness can be adjusted to what is good for you. Highly recommend this as it also doesn't take up much space and with it's simple design it's highly neurodivergent-friendly ♾️🌈🫶🏽
Lumie Vitamin L, Slim Light Box for SAD Therapy
This is a fabulous little light. Very neurodivergent friendly because it's going to help your little plants (palms and ferns in particular as they are very neurodivergent friendly) to grow in the darker months or in darker parts of your home or office. Not only do these help your plants to grow and those plants help to clean the air and reduce sensory overload, but the light will also give you a little boost of sunlight when you're need it because you need an extra boost too 🌟
Grow Light for Indoor Plants - Full Spectrum
Affordable neurodivergent-friendly ceiling light. If you're looking for some main overhead lighting that's not going to give you anxiety, then this light fitting will help hugely. It softens the light (use a soft or warm white bulb not a cool white bulb) and lights up a room without giving you the headache. If this design doesn't suit you, look for something similar that encloses the bulb and diffuses the light 🥰