Tuesday 24-02-2026 - 15:09

 

 

Written by Liz Gillett

Liz is the 25/26 LUSU Education Officer.

 

 

As someone who is Autistic and ADHD, a sensory room would have improved my experience as a student at Lancaster significantly.

 

Sensory Room design in Minecraft

What are Sensory rooms? 
Sensory rooms are quiet spaces where you can control stimuli, such as lighting and temperature. It often comes with features such as rocking chairs, bean bags and interesting light features. This is to reduce stress, increase focus, and reduce overstimulation which leads to sensory overload or meltdowns.   

Sometimes University is overwhelming and having a space to retreat to would have given me a space to calm down on campus, when otherwise I might have just gone home and missed lectures or study time. 

We raised the idea of a sensory room on campus with the University, and they were open to us creating a proposal. The idea has been floating around for a while; we are now taking a student led approach to make it happen!  

We have been collaborating with the accessibility community to see what they want in a sensory room. The accessibility community have been bringing up the idea of a sensory room for a few months, and so are pivotal to its creation.  

Potential features for the room include: 

•    Bubble tube 
•    LED lights 
•    Projectors  
•    Fibre Optic Lights 
•    Bean bags 
•    Rocking chair 
•    Sensory swing 
•    Comfy sofa 
•    Tactile features 

 
And we want even more of you involved! How may you ask? We invite you to build your ideas on very own LUSU Minecraft server! 

How to access the server 
You can join the server on Bedrock or Java Edition of Minecraft.  
Server name is LUSU Sensory Room Server 

Bedrock:  
Select server and add server 
Bedrock: IP: 213.170.135.108  
Port: 25606 

Java:  
Select multiplayer, add server 
IP and Port: 213.170.135.108:25606 

Bedrock is the version for cross platform (mobile, console and PC). If you are unsure, the main menu will say the version you are on.  

What we’d like people to do on the server! 
We would like you to design your ideal sensory space- and be creative! Despite its blocky constraints, we can see what you envision. For example, in my sensory room I built light features, added music, plants and even fidgets.  

You can also get involved with the accessibility community too! - @luaccesscommunity on Instagram 
Feel free to use signs as labels or email me any of your ideas: lusueducation@lancaster.ac.uk  

What we will do with people’s ideas & what you are doing next on the campaign 
We want to use your designs for inspiration for the sensory room. Ideas will be compiled into a list to demonstrate what you want from the space. This will be incorporated to the proposal that will be presented to the university.