Beyond the Crystal Set

My article on Disability in Second Life was published in Eureka Street on 2 May 2007.

Subsequent to all the research I did, I’ve now discovered Jenna, another disabled user of Second Life. Jenna is disabled and shy, and likes many areas of new media interaction, “I love to explore and play video games, I love on line environments like chat rooms and things like “second life”.  I … like the way that the virtual world includes the shy.  For those of us who feel a little uncomfortable in the outside world the virtual world is an amazing place. 

I will give you an example.  I have a disability.  It sometimes makes it hard to get out of the house and meet people.  It also, often makes me feel uncomfortable in my own body.  In the virtual world I am not disabled.  I am who I am in my head.  I am the girl who is able to run and play like everyone else.  I am not bedridden or sick.  I get to be for just a while what I have always wanted to be.”

Jenna then moves on from seeing the great advantages of virtual life for an adult to children.

She argues, “I also think that for children it is a world where rules do not apply to their imagination.  If they want to be a superhero they can, of they want to pretend they are the smartest person in the world they can.  It gives children an outlet for creativity and to explore parts of themselves that they very rarely let anyone see. ”

I’ve also discovered Paul Crichton, who is too disabled to be able to use Second Life. This was also a bit of challenge for Niels Schuddeboom, the Dutch chap I talked to about his Second Life experiences. Neils finds guiding the mouse a bit tiring after a while and is looking forward to voice-activating and controlling software to be added to the Second Life experience so he doesn’t have to type so much. He has also written in English about this experience.

Oh, and Simon Stevens’ nightclub Wheelies how now reopened on new Second Life island Second Ability on 18 May 2007. A lengthy article has been published by the UK Disability Now on why Simon chose to be disabled in Second Life.