AUTISM-VR

Project period: September 2019 – December 2021

Target group: Young people with autism aged 15-25 and potential employers.
Coordinator: Vifin (Denmark)
Partners of the project: Pistes Solidaires (France), Vifin (Denmark), Wisamar (Germany), Synthesis (Cyprus), London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham (UK).

Website: see the website

The context:
People suffering from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show difficulties when communicating or with any social interaction. These issues can make it difficult for them to feel at ease in ordinary situations and also to find a job, making these people victims of social exclusion. In order to find a solution to this,  several organizations all around the world believe that virtual reality can be a form of therapy for autism. Navigating through virtual reality has already been experimented in European countries and in the United States.  All the experiences show the positive impact VR has for autists, by helping them develop social and professional skills.

The objectives of the project are:
– To enable people with ASD to participate in social inclusion and access to jobs.
– To develop virtual reality tools of casual situations so the people feel at ease in ordinary circumstances.
– A double innovative project: (1) to create a support (virtual reality) and (2) to create the content of this support, which will be developed by the people suffering from ASD.

The result:
The project will lead to a creation of a tool which will be extremely useful for people with autism. Moreover, the content of the tools will be created and developed by people with ASD, making the tool effective and innovative. Besides the tool, this project also aims at creating a manual to raise employers’ awareness on the social difficulties for people suffering from ASD, in order to encourage their professional integration.