SupportOpportunities for People with Disabilities

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Support and Opportunities for People with Disabilities

Second Life has also been used to help abused children redevelop socialising skills; adults with cerebral palsy to allow them to share personal interactions without prejudice.


Brigadoon - a Self-Help Environment for Sufferers of Autism and Asperger's Syndrome

Brigadoon was setup in 2006 by the BrainTalk Community and provides a self-help supportive environment for sufferers of autism and Asperger's syndrome.

It was founded by John Lester (who now works with Linden Lab as ‘Pathfinder Linden’).

The project was designed to encourage and enable participants to try out the social interactions that are difficult in the real world.

For further information visit the Brigadoon Blog, read the article 'Coping with Asperger's in Second Life', or read the Guardian article Autism community forges virtual haven.



Virtual Ability Island

Created by Virtual Ability Inc, Virtual Ability Island (SLurl) was designed to support people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. The island provides a customized new resident orientation space, which is targeted at people with real-life disabilities, as well as hosting a community of support for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses, their family and caregivers.

The project is part of the Linden Labs Community Gateway program and is coordinated by avatars Sodapop Heron, Superquiet Heron, and Gentle Heron. It was initially funded by National Library of Medicine via a grant to the Alliance Library System project in Second Life, but is now supported via donations.

As well as the collection of inworld resources for people with a disability, Virtual Ability Inc have created a great collection of web-based resources on their website. Additionally, they support the Heron Sanctuary - an inworld community group which offers members information, encouragement, training, companionship, referrals to other online resources and groups, and ways to contribute back to the Virtual Ability community.

For more information visit the Virtual Ability website, read a blog post about Virtual Ability, view images of the Island on Flickr, view a video tour of Virtual Ability's projects with Alice Kruger aka Gentle Heron on Youtube or view videos about Virtual Ability Island's Orientation space on Youtube.


Wheelies Nightclub

Wheelies Nightclub was founded by Simon Walsh aka Simon Stevens, an independent disability consultant who has cerebral palsy in 2006. It offers people with a disablity a place to hang out and have fun, as well as providing informal peer support, and has grown from a one-roomed virtual nightclub to an extensive presence on the Taupo Sim (SLurl). In 2008, Polgara Paine aka Linda Mandlebaum, a professor of special education at the School of Intervention Services at Bowling Green State University took over responsibilities facilitating the Wheelies community and continues to develop its resources and services.

Wheelies holds events from live DJs and artists everyday, and also houses a range of resources and information to raise awareness of disability. It provides non-threatening support to visitors, as well as a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere. Additionally, the Accessible Build's project shares space with Wheelies, and provides information on how to provide both real life and virtual worlds environments which are accessible to all users.

Wheelies was awarded the Revolutionary Award at the first UK Catalyst Award for social technology and action in July 2008.

For further information visit Simon Steven's Website, check out the Wheelies Club Blog, read an interview with Simon Stevens on Makeyourmark.org, watch the official Wheelies video on Youtube, which includes a short history of the Wheelies project and community or watch the UK Catalyst Awards Wheelies promotional video.


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