Virtual Ability, Inc.

Virtual Ability, Inc. is a non-profit corporation based in Colorado, USA.  Our mission is to enable people with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds like Second Life®.

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International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference - July 23-24, 2011 

Virtual World Conference about Real World Rights

 

Virtual Ability, Inc. announces the International Disability Rights Affirmation Conference (IDRAC2011) to be held Saturday and Sunday, July 23/24, in Second Life®.

 

This international conference will begin to explore legal protections around the world for persons with disabilities. Featured panels of persons from around the world will discuss local legislation that supports the rights of persons with disabilities. Panelists come from Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the US and the UK.

 

Presentations will take place in Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island within Second Life®: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Virtual%20Ability/54/170/23.

 

 

AVESS Project
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Virtual Ability, Inc. and ADL Company proudly announce the initiation of the AVESS (Amputee Virtual Environment Support Space) Project. AVESS is funded by the Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC).*

 

The purpose of this project is to establish best practices and protocols for the provision of on-line peer-to-peer support services for military amputees and their families. The first phase of this project created demonstration environments in Second Life®. Phase two will be the creation of a four-sim supportive environment in SL.

 

See a video about AVESS here!

 
* This work is supported by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command under Contract "W81XWH-09- P-0731."  The views, opinions and/or findings expressed above are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision unless so designated by other documentation.

College Open Textbook Project 


In spring 2010, the Hewlett-funded Community College Open Textbooks Collaborative contracted with Virtual Ability, Inc. to review 60 open textbooks for college students (both websites and PDF documents) regarding accessibility. Since increasing numbers of college students have some kind of disability, accessibility is an important aspect of evaluating instructional materials.

 

VAI was selected in part because of the large group of experienced disabled persons we involved as evaluators. After extensive training, VAI evaluators delivered high-quality reports using consistent metrics. The biggest success factor for this project was an extremely motivated SL team, contributing to improvements for RL students with disabilities. This was an SL-based project with a positive value in real life.