Show HN: ADHD STASH. A curated collection of ADHD friendly products and services

Show HN: ADHD STASH. A curated collection of ADHD friendly products and services(adhdstash.com)

56 points by Essa 2 years ago | 13 comments

Over the past few years I've struggled to find good/trusted resources for things that might be useful to those with ADHD.

Common issues with other sites were:

* Very limited options and/or info, or products that weren't actually useful.

* Blog post or news articles like "top 10 things to help with your ADHD" often had limited info or didn't have enough context to be useful.

* Unclear if some authors had ADHD or experience with ADHD. In some cases you could tell a random writer got assigned this post to write, but had no idea what ADHD is really like.

* Walls of text or cluttered/overwhelming design, meaning that the content was too hard to read and/or the site made me anxious (after which I bounced).

As a result, I created ADHD STASH, where I've tried to:

* Limit content length and complexity, while sharing key info * Use design that feels friendly and fun * Give people the option to find products/services based on use case or problem areas * Only recommend products where I own them and have tried them for a significant period.

Questions/Feedback

Any constructive feedback is welcome, especially from people who have ADHD!

In particular, it would be great to get real world feedback to help me validate/invalidate my hypothesis that the design/content is ADHD friendly and if the latter, what I could improve upon.

P.S. Since I bought all these products to test out of my own pocket and that I use Apple ecosystem devices, it's only natural that some of the options listed are Apple centric. That being said, I'm saving up to get some more Google/Windows related devices to test!

P.P.S. Some affiliate links for the US are a bit fiddly (aka, showing search results instead of products, even when something is in stock), but I'm trying to fix that atm.

yunruse 2 years ago |

Love this, love this! The attention to detail is pretty damn professional, and this is quite clearly by someone who knows the kind of stuff that works well for ADHD peeps.

Nitpicky feedback: the layout needs a little tweakery for wide layout; as it stands 3 boxes on a wide screen is quite Large. A `max-width` on the categories and products (they look like the same CSS?) works well.

I especially appreciate the portable desk whiteboard; it seems perfect when I inevitably figure out how to not have an omnidesk (food and work included, which is an utter cardinal sin I know…)

I don't use Amazon so apologise in advance that these might not have affiliate, but I might also recommend the Ikea NILSERIK as a cheaper alternative for an ergonomic stool. A blue light alarm is absolutely useful: the Lumie Zest seems to have been discontinued (good! it was SUPER expensive) but I can't comment on if the newer ones have more gimmick faff. Either way the slow 30minute 'sunrise' is pretty good so I would absolutely recommend it.

If nothing else I can wholeheartedly recommend the youtube channel (and now book!) How To ADHD; Jessica's vids are real thorough, engaging, useful and with brains in mind! It might be super useful to sprinkle them into various articles, though be aware there are a WHOOOLE bunch of vids lol...

Anyhow a fellow ADHD haver you have my thanks and kudos for concept and follow-through! Keep going; you have my bookmark :>

Essa 2 years ago | |

Hello brains!

I'm sure you've already guessed it, but I'm a huge fan of Jessica's videos too! I love what she's done and she's one of the people who inspired me to start doing some videos about ADHD too (planned in the coming months). I'll also be linking her channel in the resource section soon, along with Adam Savage's tested and a few others.

Thanks for the feedback about wide screens btw, will look into it. May I ask what the resolution is of the screen and what browser you're using? I'll save that as a size to test for when updating the site.

I'm so happy you liked the desk whiteboard and 100% know what you mean about the omnidesk setup. Also, if that's a cardinal sin, I too am a sinner as I currently have on my desk...an iMac, a 3D printer AND an airbrushing setup .

As for the recommendations. Thank you so much for taking the time to share those! I'll add them to my list of things to test next. Also, since you've mentioned the bookmarking, do check back in a few weeks as I currently have about 20 more things I'll be slowly adding.

Once again, thank you so so much for your detailed feedback, suggestions and the kind words. The resulting dopamine boost is making me even more excited to continue working on this .

seba_dos1 2 years ago |

> P.S. Since I bought all these products to test out of my own pocket and that I use Apple ecosystem devices, it's only natural that some of the options listed are Apple centric. That being said, I'm saving up to get some more Google/Windows related devices to test!

This is fine and understandable, but things like AirPods really need something like "fully functional only with macOS/iOS" listed in their cons, since this restriction negates several listed pros for majority of the population.

Essa 2 years ago | |

Thank you for the feedback. I 100% agree and will look at adding something along those lines in the next update.

I was initially under the impression that people in other tech ecosystems may not even consider the AirPods for exactly that reason, but now that I think about it, people not familiar with certain Apple products may not know about the lack of compatibility in the first place.

Super valid and useful bit of feedback, so thank you so much for sharing your perspective .

nxrabl 2 years ago |

This is a neat collection! Have you considered adding an RSS feed for when you put new items on the list?

Essa 2 years ago | |

Thank you! I hadn't yet thought of that because I'm new to building stuff like this by myself, but I will put it on the list of things to research/add.

One of my next steps was to add an email newsletter opt-in. May I ask whether that would fulfil the same function or do you think RSS would be better?

If the latter, I'd appreciate if you could share your thinking :)

nxrabl 2 years ago | | |

It would work the same for me, if only because I'd redirect the email to my RSS reader (via Feedbin[0] or Kill the Newsletter[1] or similar)! I suspect most people who care about RSS would do the same, but the Webflow docs[2] show it being pretty straightforward to set up, and (imo) it's an easy backup hedge against all your comms getting stuck in spam filters. Plus, it just feels more ADHD-friendly to me to reduce ping noise as much as possible.

[0] https://feedbin.com/

[1] https://kill-the-newsletter.com/

[2] https://university.webflow.com/lesson/rss-feed

rdelpret 2 years ago |

I’m not affiliated with them but you should check out “brick” I just bought one myself. It’s an rfid device you have to tap your phone on to unlock and lock apps.

I usually “brick” my phone when I go upstairs to bed and unbrick it when I go back downstairs so I don’t scroll in bed.

https://getbrick.app/

Essa 2 years ago | |

Thank you! Will have a look

SuperNinKenDo 2 years ago |

Hey man, I love it! Even the little things like the fact that you picked such a gorgeous little orange for that radio; those are the little touches that only people who actually have ADHD would think of.

Sight design is great too; perfect amount of info, great layout, colour that guides rather than distracts, love it.

Essa 2 years ago | |

THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!

It was really tricky balancing momentum while battling Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria thinking (one of the common ADHD comorbidities) and impostor syndrome traps, but your message has put a HUGE smile on my face and made me glad that I not only created the site, but also shared it here .

Also, thank you for the specific feedback regarding the design! I did usability tests with ADHD'ers (with some I even pretended I didn't design the site so they would give me 100% honest feedback), but you can never know the potential response without putting it live. I'm also super happy that the small design/content elements are something you appreciate.

Obscurity4340 2 years ago |

The Mophie charge cases are better than power banks if you have a bunch

Essa 2 years ago | |

Thanks for the heads up! I just had a look and presume you mean the "Juice Pack" models? I've put it on my list of things to research and try .