Show Avatars encouraging disabled to fight back UK i tI Rob Stein The Washington ashington Post After suffering a 1 devastating stroke four years ago Susan Brown was left in a wheelchair with little hope of walking again Today the year 57 old Richmond Va woman has regained use of her legs and has begun to reclaim her life thanks in part to encouragement she he hc says she gets from an online virtual world where she can walk run and even dance Roberto Salvatierra long imprisoned in his home by his terror over going outdoors has started venturing outside more after gaining confidence nce by first tentatively exploring the three-dimensional three interactive world on the Internet John Dawley III who has hasa a form fonn of autism that makes it tiara nard to read social cues learned how to talk with people more easily by using his generated computer-generated alter ego to practice with other cyber Brown Salvatierra and Dawley are just a few examples of an increasing number of sick disabled and troubled people who say virtual worlds are helping them fight their diseases live with their disabilities and sometimes even begin to recover Researchers say they are arc only starting to appreciate the impact of this phenomenon and social transition with this technology It has very recently started to become a avery avery very big deal and we haven't by y any means digested what the implications are said William Villiam Sims Bainbridge a social scientist at atthe atthe atthe the National Science Foundation In addition to helping individual patients virtual worlds are being used for a host of other related health-related purposes Medical schools are using them to train doctors Health departments are using them to test first responders Researchers are using them to gain insights into how epidemics spread Health support groups are using them to educate the public and raise money These increasingly sophisticated online worlds enable people to create rich virtual lives through avatars identities they can tailor to their desires Old people become young Infirm people become vibrant Paralyzed people become agile They walk run nun and even fly and teleport around vast realms offering shopping malls bars homes parks and myriad other settings with trees swaying in the wind fog rolling in and an occasional deer prancing past They flirt and comfort one another using lifelike shrugs slouches nods and other gestures while they type instant messages or talk directly through headsets Because the full-color full l 2 i mu u uthe ui Ul the experience offers so much more emotional bandwidth than traditional Web sites mail e-mail lists and discussion groups users say the experience can feel astonishingly real Participants develop close relationships and share intimate details even while paradoxically remaining anonymous Some say they open up in ways they never would in to face-to-face encounters in real support groups therapy sessions or even with family and close friends in their true lives Youre in this imaginary world People dont don't know much about who you really are In that anonymity in that almost dreamlike state people express things about themselves they may not otherwise said John Suler who studies the psychology of the Internet at Rider University in New Jersey noting the experience can be especially useful for people with disabilities and those in remote areas where support groups or therapists are far away While the emergence of these worlds has generated controversy over the gender-bending gender sexually outrageous profiteering and f. f 1 1 9 vi Wa Washington hington Post photo by Melina Mara Iara Susan Brown who used a wheelchair after a stroke four years ago has begun walking in the form of an avatar in the virtual world of Second Life even violent virtual behavior of some participants their usefulness for meeting health needs has just begun to draw attention There is a fundamental irony here said Thomas Murray of the Hastings Center a medical ethics think tank in Garrison NY Avatars tend to be young beautiful and never age or get sick But at the same time they can serve as an important way to share information about health Murray and others however worry that participants may neglect potentially more helpful real-life real relationships or have unrealistic expectations about what virtual worlds can do Users and health care providers may be rushing ahead they say without validating the usefulness of these worlds or identifying the dangers Weve Veve seen the power of the Internet and what it can do said Albert Skip Rizzo a University of Southern California psychologist who treats traumatized Iraq war veterans with virtual reality But as we all know there can also be negative consequences We Ve really need to step back and think What are the practical and ethical things we can do in inthe inthe inthe the area of health and what cant can't we do The emotional punch of virtual worlds makes them fertile breeding grounds for false misleading and possibly dangerous information Sick lonely and psychologically fragile people are particularly vulnerable You have the same risks as elsewhere on the Internet Murray said A Alot Alot Alot lot of the information is garbage There is always the possibility will try to gain peoples people's confidence to peddle phony cures or otherwise do things that are not in peoples people's interests Still an increasing number of major health organizations are trying to take advantage of virtual worlds for public health education patient support and fundraising The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested a small office in inthe inthe inthe the popular virtual world Second Life staffed by Hygeia Philo an avatar named after the Greek goddess of health and is now planning a bigger permanent pres presence nce The American Cancer Society has an elaborate island offering virtual lectures by avatar doctors support group meetings and other activities such as an annual fundraising marathons that last year raised more than thanS S in real money The March of Dimes is building a virtual neonatal intensive- intensive care unit to warn about the dangers of births The National Library of Medicine is helping fund Island where users can get reliable medical information Meanwhile scientists are beginning to study virtual worlds for insights into real- real life health problems Two teams analyzed a virtual epidemic of corrupted blood that devastated the World of Warfare online game for clues to how people might react during a real pandemic Another examined a pox that infects avatars in a childrens children's virtual world called which the is using to learn better ways to boost pediatric flu vaccination rates in the real world Medical schools and heal health th departments have also started using virtual worlds A University of California psychiatrist developed a virtual psych ward echoing with disembodied voices to help caregivers better understand schizophrenia Stanford University doctors built virtual operating and emergency rooms rooms to train young doctors Britain's National Health Service constructed an entire virtual hospital So much is happening n virtual worlds that researchers at Harvard Medical School are planning to explore the possibilities at ata ata ata a seminar later this month and the National Defense University in Washington is hosting a conference next month rat at federal agencies including the and the National i t lu H out d tt nj ill Ili Institutes or of Health 1 can use the phenomenon Susan Brown the stroke victim said encouragement from other survivors in Dreams one of several protected areas in Second Life for people with disabilities and the experience of seeing herself walking again aided her recovery It helped me visualize Brown said through her A P HUH A Y J during an interview in a virtual field near a virtual home she built in Dreams as virtual butterflies flitted past I stumbled h here re just like I stumbled in RL real life she typed Salvatierra the agoraphobic Dawley the patient with Asperger syndrome and others tell similar stories Its kind of like getting your life back again but even better in some ways said Kathie Olson 53 who uses a wheelchair lives alone and rarely leaves her home near near Salt Lake City In Second Life she roams about as Kat a curvy young brunette who runs the Dragon Inn nightclub Ive met so many people I Ican Ican Ican can walk I can dance I can even fly Without this Id I'd just be staring at four walls Mentally its it's helped me so much For Stephanie Koslow 48 of Poughkeepsie N NY Y her virtual life is helping sustain her as she fights advanced breast cancer It Its ICs s n not t real but its it's real in a way said Koslow whose avatar is a pink fox named Artistic I might spend an afternoon trying yng on on silly wings wing and laughing with friends And laughter heals t t a. a SI |