Virtual Reality Simulating Life With Disabilities Gets Funded For Local Council; New Convention For Disability Awareness Announced
/The Council for Persons with Disabilities (CPD) received funding of $26,340 towards developing a virtual reality program to be showcased at a new convention called Capable Con announced Friday.
(left to right) Andrea Dodsworth, CPD chair; MPP Dave Smith; Leslie Yee; Akira, Yee’s guide dog; CPD Vice-chair and Minister Raymond Cho dressed in capes to highlight the heroes involved with CPD. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
The Enabling Change Grant went towards the CPD’s Time in My Shoes program and was administered by Minister Raymond Cho who attended the event with local councillors and government officials.
The virtual reality programs simulate daily tasks while living with a disability so anyone can experience the daily challenges of having an impairment. Disabilities included mobility challenges, invisible disabilities vision and hearing loss.
"Whether it's an aging disability like hearing loss or sight loss or it's something that you're born with, everyone is going to have a disability," said Leslie Yee, CPD Vice-chair. “It's just important to understand what the barriers are and how easily the barriers can be taken away just to make life simpler."
“We're always looking to promote universal design and give people the opportunity to see what it's like so that everyone has a better understanding," said Jason King, CPD Programming and Marketing Assistant. "The physical program and the new virtual reality program, it's a great tool to help individuals get that first-hand experience that they normally wouldn't have."
Spreading awareness was one of CPD’s goals in developing the virtual reality software.
“All we're trying to do is create more empathy towards the reasons why we're asking for certain things," said Lee. "Making things more accessible, a lot of that is mobility accessibility which is totally great, that's what we need but it's trying to bring that awareness to everybody."
Minister Raymond Cho attempted to navigate with a wheelchair through a city in the virtual reality simulation. Photo by David Tuan Bui.
