“I am not particularly disabled. However, I have a son who is 31 years old and autistic.  He is impaired enough that we don't leave him alone.  It might be possible for him to be on his own, but we don't know how to develop him to the point that he could be left alone.  We don't know what would happen if he were to get lost and given his limited communication abilities we just don't know what would happen to him. 

 

For this reason, I have a day job during the week and my wife has a night job on the weekends.  Someone is always with my son, either us or support personnel.  Needless to say, this puts a strain on our lives, but in life, you can only play the cards you are dealt the best you can. 

 

My son loves to use his computer.  He is skilled enough with it to surf the net using Google and find games to play.  We have parental controls on his computer to reduce the dangers he faces there and he doesn't have an email account.  I have thought that he might enjoy exploring Second Life and the limited experience he has had here makes me think that it is true.  However, SL does not have parental controls for people over 18, so he requires supervision when he is here. 

 

I personally came to Second Life because for me it is an opportunity for me to get out and meet people when for one reason or another I can't do it in real life.  These reasons include my personality and the need to supervise my son. 

 

I think my entrance into Second Life went OK.  My son's entrance was a little different.  He moves so fast in Second Life, it is difficult to keep up with him.  I don't think he realizes that this isn't a game, that there are real people behind the avatars and that the places and things he explores or examines may belong to someone else.  I am trying to find places that he can explore safely and do little harm. 

 

Oddly enough, I met a Virtual Ability member by asking her to dance.  In chatting while dancing I learned about Virtual Ability and about the freedom that SL is able to give people who are limited in one way or another in their real life. 

 

Currently I am working on buildings that I hope will promote community.  One of the things I noticed while exploring Second Life is that so much of it is filled with empty buildings.  I am sure that periodically, someone is in them, but for most of the time they are empty.  My thought was that instead of one large structure occasionally occupied by one person next to another such structure, it might be better if there was a higher density arrangement in which each resident had both private space and larger common areas to promote interaction.  The private space could be customized to give the resident a feeling that it was their private space, their own, and the common space to encourage people to come out and interact with others. 

 

Second Life enables me to get out and meet people that I would never otherwise meet.  It lets me build things that in real life I would never have the resources to build.  It lets me get out and go dancing or ice skating or just exploring.  I hope that one day, I can help my son come here and perhaps he will be able to do the same thing.

 

Sincerely,

 

Stepinwolf Darkstone"