Not For Profit and the Virtual World

With a keen interest in the Not for Profit sector it seems the use of virtual reality for the disabled will, over time, bring tremendous benefits.

Most able bodied people associate Virtual Reality with either gaming or where commercial use allows cost benefits. An example being Qantas and their approach to how its engineers do engine runs and the use of HoloLens2 technology to simulate this for training.

VR and the disabled.

So what can VR offer the disabled space? Well, in a nut shell, improved...

• Learning
• Gaming
• Building empathy and expanding knowledge for those people without disabilities by helping them to experience a disability through a simulated environment
• Recreation
• Workplace opportunities

All this occurring in the complete safety of a virtual world by creating environments that simulate a person’s physical presence in worlds real or imagined.

So how would it work in real terms or more importantly what needs to be overcome to make this a reality?

Precise tracking and absolute recreating our body movements make VR difficult for people with physical disabilities.

If we were to rely mainly on visual cues, we would leave people with visual impairments behind.

At the moment this is expensive technology and high-end VR headsets are relatively expensive and can make them hard to acquire.

There are plenty of companies taking up the challenge. One well recognised player is Google and some of their thoughts around how to tackle this include:

• Spatial audio cues used for navigating and interacting with virtual environments.
• A ground up build versus an overlay approach with that in mind is such as the Google Daydream product
• Low-cost VR headsets, which work with mobile phones, are helping VR be more readily accessible.

Trolling the web you will find niche companies like US-based Walkin VR who are making huge leaps with the software its developed that makes virtual reality games and apps more accessible for everyone.

You can visit their website for a more detailed breakdown but what I love about this technology is...

• If you are in a wheelchair you can crouch, kneel, stand and turn around 360 degrees in VR
• Those with one arm can play with a virtual controller in the virtual reality space.
• A person who cannot use their hands for movement and button pressing can use a third-party Xbox controller to perform those functions.
• People not able to move their controllers to the height or depth required by the video game can adjust the controllers’ position and range of motion.
• If you need more operating space can adjust the movement sensitivity of their VR controller that is translated from their physical controller.
• Those who have a limited range of motion in their wrists can change the idle orientation of their controller in VR.

I’m a fan so here’s the link if you want to check out their progress https://www.walkinvrdriver.com/

I have, like many people, read of examples where VR is not only being used for the physically disabled but also those with less visible disabilities.

Take ADHD as an example.

VR can be a distraction-free experience for learners with attention deficiency challenges because the virtual reality headset completely covers their frame of view. The immersive environment of a VR experience can promote sustained focus and attention. Further, VR can and will most likely in the future provide people with ADHD the high levels of stimulation, and immediate, realistic responses to behaviour in the virtual world that would make them feel more comfortable and less anxious.

Or what about those with autism?

Autism therapists and researchers started to use VR in the mid-1990s. Researchers often deployed the technology to create virtual environments to help autistic people prepare for encounters or situations that could be stressful.

For example, the Center for BrainHealth and the Child Study Center at Yale University’s School of Medicine collaborated to help young adults with ASD achieve economic and social independence with the help of VR. One student, who lives with ASD, went through the Center’s social cognition training during her senior year. The training taught them to handle situations such as job interviews, a problem with a neighbour and even dating!

VR to help prepare autistic children for public speaking.

 Examples already exist of an audience of avatars which faded away if eye contact was not made by the speaker, children are encouraged to look around the room, rather than just ahead.

What about phobias? Recent studies examined the effect of using immersive therapy to treat phobias in autistic children.

One such research was conducted in what’s affectionately known as the Blue Room, an experience which was developed by specialists at Newcastle University, working alongside innovative technology firm Third Eye NeuroTech.

So much good work is being done to put this technology to impressive use. I hope it continues and as it matures as more developers join in and help create new content for a market ready-made for this type of technology.