Second Life good for the disabled
It’s no secret by now that Second Life, with all it’s frustrating problems of stability and bugs, and all the seedier side of things, such as cybersex and griefers, also is a great place where real good things can happen.
We’ve heard about how corporations are using the virtual space as a way to cut costs and make meetings and collaboration far more efficient than is can be in the real world. How educators are using it for experiments, educational curriculum and even as long-distance learning centers. and then there are those whose real lives can be changed in a positive way through their virtual lives.
I personally know of a couple people who, in real life dread going into public for a couple reasons. One of whom was in a car accident a couple years ago and is unable even to speak or move around easily, find that Second Life allows her to be ‘normal and beautiful’ again.
We’ve also read stories about how the psychological affects of SL can be ‘damaging’ to many and, yet highly positive to others.
CNN.com has a great story of the latter. Featuring a few residents, the story centers around how Second Life is being used to help those within the autistic spectrum and their families.
“For people with autism, we’ve found it’s a very nice way of setting up situations they might come across in their everyday lives,” Bignell said. “For people who have social, emotional, communicational problems … we can get them familiar with an environment before they actually try it out in real life.”
iReport: ‘Naughty Auties’ battle autism with virtual interaction – CNN.com
Tags: SecondLife, SL, CNN, Autism, Awesome
Excellent post. I even used this benefit as a way to warm up my classmates to the idea of SL while we’re working on our team paper. Explaining to them that it isn’t just good for “normal people” to “hang out” helped them realize just one of its many benefits, as non-users.
I agree wholeheartedly.
My mother is often housebound, and many of her friends are both scattered around the country – and equally housebound. SL has enabled them to spend more time together than they have in years , stimulates the brain with the challenges of new skills being learned, and gives them the chance to ‘do’ activities they could not easily nor comfortably do IRL.
They’ve added new members to their friendships from around the globe, they’re connecting with real live human beings with real feelings, real ideas- and real IRL issues that they are very supportive of one another throughout.
One of my mom’s friends actually had to fight off an involuntary nursing home commitment because one of her adult children thought this terminally ill woman was not mentally stable because she ’spent way too much time living in a fantasy world’. And what exactly did her daughter think that a 68yo woman with months to live, who could not walk without severe pain, ought to be doing???
I’m all for SL.