Adelaide’s Virtual Reality Experience is opening up new worlds for people living with a disability to explore regardless of age or ability, recently opening a second location in Golden Grove to accompany the already existing arcade in the Adelaide CBD.
We spoke to Anna Solding, Virtual Reality Adelaide’s NDIS Coordinator, about how Virtual and Augmented Reality can benefit people with disability through opening up new and accessible experiences that wouldn’t normally be possible.
‘The benefits of VR vary greatly, for clients with limited mobility the feeling of weightlessness and ease of movement within the VR is wonderful. Young clients with autism often find that they are able to exert themselves physically in a way that they would never do while playing sports. VR becomes their exercise.’
VR has also been shown to help people living with Downs Syndrome prepare for work through the use of job soimulators to help learn the skills of the job in a safe and controlled environment.
Anna goes on to say, how future improvements in VR and AR will open up even greater possibilities building on the already existing ability to travel to new countries or venture to space, the possibilities are endless.
She hopes that in the future VR and AR will also be able to help people develop their day to day skills such as walking to work or learning to drive.
With school holidays up and running there’s no better time to experience VR.
