Denver Comic Con ran from May 23rd – 25th and was the expected mixture of comics, computer games, science fiction, fantasy and more. The more part had what was to me, a surprising part to it as it included Virtual Ability Inc. a non-profit organisation who have a presence in both Second Life and Inworldz. Virtual Ability build community support for people with a wide range of disabilities in virtual worlds.
That they were part of Denver Comic Con initially seemed odd, but then I noticed that Denver Comic Con also has links with Pop Culture Classroom, whose mission statement is :
Pop Culture Classroom ignites a love of learning, increases literacy, celebrates diversity and builds community through the tools of popular culture and the power of self-expression.
If you’re still scratching your head, then a blog post may help you : Live from DCC’15: Virtual Ability Helps People in the Real World :
It’s not just about comics at Denver Comic Con. Denver’s fandom is unique in supporting the efforts of education, through our associated nonprofit, Pop Culture Classroom, as well our new and unique gaming and development area, the E.D.G.E.
The post is worth a read in full because it exemplifies a lot of the good work Virtual Ability do in Virtual Worlds, th author of the post spoke to Alice Krueger, the President and founder of Virtual Ability and Alice made some very positive and interesting comments on virtual worlds, particularly with regards to Second Life :
We provide education and entertainment to our community members and do outreach to the general population in Second Life. Most people don’t realize that in virtual environments, one out of every five persons has some kind of disability and that’s a higher percentage than in the general population outside the virtual world.
There are many good uses of Virtual Worlds of course, but the way they can aid people with disabilities is a very important use case.
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