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Hypo-Sensitivity to Light

Luftmentsch

I wondered if anyone else here is hypo-sensitive to light rather than hyper-sensitive? I’ve seen various comments here about “If the world was more autistic-friendly, all the lights would be muted,” but I’m slowly realising that I’m the reverse. While I like muted light when watching TV and getting ready for bed, muted light the rest of the time makes me feel sleepy (although I don’t like bright flashing lights). My work office, for example, has terrible lighting and I’m sure it affects my efficiency. I like quite sharp, bright light or clear contrasts. At university, when working after sunset, I would turn all the lights off in the room and work by the light of a bright desk light, so I could focus on my desk and my work and not see the rest of the room and get distracted. I liked that sharp contrast. I feel slightly weird as other autistics all seem to be the opposite way, although I know that for anything most autistics experience as hyper-sensitivity, some will experience hypo-sensitivity. I guess it fuels the "I'm not really autistic" impostor syndrome.

  • Light affects us all differently, I quite like a bright light, depending where I am and what I’m doing. If my friend comes over, and closed the blinds I hate it. I feel closed in and like I can’t see properly. In bright light my eyes water and squint more than the average person. I am allergic to UVA and UVB too, which doesn’t help. 
    As a youngster I remember enjoying laying in full sun with my eyes closed. I still do that now, but I’m totally covered up with just my face in view, and under a Titanium umbrella. 

  • I adore bright sunlight and also prefer artificial lights to be as bright as possible. I genuinely find it difficult to stay awake in dimly lit environments in the afternoon and evening. As soon as the sun goes down and light intensity dips, my brain says "time for sleep!" I give up most evening activities in winter because I physically can't stay up for them. My rented home drives me crazy because I just can't get it bright enough even after changing all the bulbs and adding lamps.

  • All autistic people are different, you seem to need a lot of light, maybe you actually need much more than non-autistics. Although autistics have similarities we all have differences too, we are all unique. So do not worry about it. You are autistic, and that is a good thing to be. 

  • Yes, I find contrast really helpful for focus too. In the evenings I turn off all the lights in my living room and then sit right under a lamp with a daylight bulb in it, because that's what helps me to focus on my craft projects while still being able to see what I'm doing. I would get overstimulated if all the lights were on, but having one very bright light doesn't have the same negative effect.