Rebecca is sensitive to fluorescent lighting and CFLs, and to a lesser extent to LEDs. These give her crippling migraines which leave her housebound for days, and constant headache and pain. For some lighting types, migraines are triggered in seconds, meaning any exposure is dangerous. With fluorescent lighting, the types with metal reflectors and grids over them are the worst as they magnify flicker and glare. The fluorescent tubes themselves can be manageable for her on their own, meaning that this metal grid makes the difference between being able to use a space and never being able to enter it at all.
The prevalence of these lights make it extremely difficult for her to obtain work, and have drastically limited career options and opportunities for over 9 years. She has been unable to study for a professional qualification or access many training courses solely because of lighting used. Rebecca has lost two jobs because of this.
She has had to turn down medical treatment because the lights in the venue would make her so ill, it would not be worth it. Rebecca had a lot of trouble finding a GP as there is only one practice covering her area where the lights were accessible enough to get inside the building at all.
Transport is a huge problem because of inaccessible lighting at numerous Tube and train stations and Rebecca is forced to take lengthy and circuitous routes to avoid these. This costs her a lot of time and money, often a journey will take twice as long as she cannot make an interchange between lines, and there are some parts of the city she cannot get to at all because all the stations there have these lights.
For council facilities such as swimming, leisure centres and libraries Rebecca either cannot use them at all or has to travel many miles to find one she can use. Even buildings where the lighting is otherwise accessible, she often cannot get through the entrance or cannot use the toilets because of CFL emergency lighting in these areas.
For the past 2 years Rebecca has been unable to go into shops at all, including buying food, which means a huge loss of independence as she must rely on others.
It costs an enormous amount of time to be constantly avoiding these lights, as well as money, as she has hugely limited choice about where she can go and what work she can do, and has led to poverty, social isolation and a severely limited quality of life. Rebecca is in her thirties and worried about how she will manage in future.