Lighting areas around the home

Recommendation 153
Provide ample but soft lighting, avoid drop shadows
No motion sensors

Chapter (theme)
Installations and appliances (lighting)

Because of
Disturbed perception, Weak Central coherence

In order to
address, firstly, sensory sensitivity’s for light (and sound-)effects and, secondly, to prevent the familiar, daytime reality from turning into something strange and frightful

Elaboration
The spaces in front, adjacent and behind the home are in need  of lighting measures. Especially in winter, when the darkness lifts later and sets in earlier, it’s advisable to provide ample lighting because of disturbed perception. Walter (26), for instance, was afraid to go outside in the evening because he couldn’t make sense of the shadows, cast by the outside lighting: what is this dark blob? A shadow or a hole in the ground?

Also, the experience of constancy is part of effectively functioning Central coherence, even when it cannot be perceived and has, in fact, to be assumed. (As when one drives at night on a nearly invisible road, on the assumption it is there.) Many people on the spectrum cannot make this leap of faith. The paths to, for instance, the bicycle shed, the outside mailbox, along with other habitual routes, therefore need to be well lit. And preferably by soft, not harsh lighting.
Lamps, activated through motion sensors, are to be avoided, because of the shock effect which will exceed the pain-threshold of many or most people on the spectrum. Timers, on the other hand, are advisable.

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