E-Access Bulletin Live

A new island themed around disability and inclusion has been ‘discovered’ in Second Life, by the man whose online character or ‘avatar’ was the first to use a wheelchair in the virtual world.

Llamdos (try reading the name backwards) was created by Simon Stevens, a consultant who in 2006 created Wheelies, the first virtual night-club in Second Life aimed at both disabled and non-disabled users.

The island, which Stevens estimates has already received more than 10,000 visitors from around 30 countries, is now home to Wheelies plus a range of virtual shops and services such as the Understand training centre and Viewpoint conference centre, where Stevens organises and hosts workshops and seminars on a wide range of issues in the fields of disability and social care.

Stevens told E-Access Bulletin that although Llamdos has the themes of disability and inclusion, the island is not solely “for disabled people, and is intended to be a place for both disabled and non-disabled Second Life users”. Although Llamdos is “probably not as technically accessible as it can be”, he said “many organisations have become too obsessed with the rules of [accessibility] and they have forgotten the spirit of the intentions. My aim is for the island to feel inclusive and welcoming.”

A number of communities in Second Life now explore themes of disability, such as Ability Island, a training and discussion area owned by US organisation Virtual Ability. Virtual Ability also own Cape Able Island, designed primarily for deaf and hard of hearing Second Life users.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 28th, 2010 at 9:45 am and is filed under Games, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.