When Leon arrived inworld, Nyx met up with him and they set off to find the Gold Mine, where iSkye had stationed herself in her “HKD Greeter” role. After a bit of hilarity in getting guide dogs untangled, Leon charged into the tunnel, eager to display his navigational skills, with Nyx trailing dubiously and iSkye tossing helpful hints from her post safe on the crates at the mouth of the mine shaft. Immediately, Leon got discombobulated – naturally, Nyx was no help. Retracing their steps, it occurred to them that there were guides and tools to help – might be bright to use those… iSkye passed a notecard to Nyx explaining the build by it’s creator, Johnnytreadlightly Nightfire. So with Nyx reading and Leon navigating and several attempts at the challenge – success was finally obtained. Several valuable lessons in assistance were underscored in the gold mine experience.

Sorry to leave iSkye behind, but determined to photograph highlights of the islands and event, Leon and Nyx set out. Finding curious traces of Lindens and an impressive list of speakers throughout the day, the intrepid pair continued exploring, snapping photos of interesting exhibits and sharing impressions about the venue with other people they met along the way.

While iSkye was at the mine, a variety of people came through to visit, and it was interesting to observe the reactions of the visitors. When one couple came, she prompted them about getting their virtual guide dogs, then gave them some basic instructions to start them off. They went inside but came back out after only a very brief time. Apparently that short time was enough for them to get a clear sense of what it means to be blind. Another small group got their guide dogs and went through, had some trouble. iSkye passed them a notecard with some helpful hints, which got them through and they found the experience to be very enlightening, as Nyx did earlier in the day. Virtual Helping Hands, with the capable skills of Johnnytreadlightly Nightfire, built the gold mine on the Helen Keller Day grounds for the express purpose of creating an entertaining but eye-opening (pun not intended) way to raise awareness about the challenges faced by blind and low-vision residents in virtual worlds, and about the usefulness of tools like Max the Virtual Guide Dog to assist them in achieving as equivalent an experience in Second Life as possible.

Leon and iSkye visited a house that was built equipped with the Marco Polo script, another accessibility tool for blind and low-vision residents. As they walked along the path toward the Pavilion, Leon noticed the hands sculpture and iSkye explained the significance of them, how Helen Keller’s first word, “water,” was a major breakthrough in communication, when she learned to associate water she felt running over her hands with the sign for water, and the vocal sound of water that her teacher, Annie Sullivan, had worked so hard to get her to understand. At the Pavilion, they heard from builders and designers who talked of a ‘standard’ for building in virtual worlds, and if any RL standards could be applied without being off-putting to the majority of users in Second Life. While visiting the entertainment area at Club Accessible, Leon and iSkye enjoyed different musicians, then ended the day back at the Pavilion to catch the comedy act of Lauren Weyland and the “I Am One” party hosted by TributeTim Kwak and the volunteers of Club Accessible.

Curious and interested in the past and future of the islands and greatly aware of the power of the metaverse to inspire creative minds and hands, it became clear to us how empowering these virtual worlds can be for all of us, particularly when accommodations are in place for those of us with disabilities. Vision isn’t limited to the things we can see with our eyes, nor is hearing only in a certain auditory range. In immersive virtual environments with appropriate supports, physical disabliities can disappear (or not – this is the choice of the individual) and the horizons for all of us suddenly become vastly broader through our encounters with each other.

Coincidentally, each of us ended the day by further exploring the work of Bryn Oh – but that’s for another post.

=IcaruS= on flickr: Helen Keller Day 2010 in SL