handsome and charming gentlemen, or learn a foreign language. I would urge all people, disable or not, to fully explore and become involved in SL. Do the things you’ve always wanted to do. Visit all the places you’ve always wanted to visit. Time travel. Expand your horizons and try something new. Here, you can make any dream come true or learn new skills. Speaking of which, learning to build is high on my agenda of things I want to learn. If I’m right, SL (and my screen magnifier) will allow me to create beautiful things!
Alcyan: How technology helps disabled people?
Gaia: I think I covered this earlier, but technology provides new and different ways of doing what the physical body may not be able to do. Of course, the creator of the site must be willing to do the work to make that technology work on their site, and LL has done so, but accessibility technology for visually impaired users has very specific requirements and would involve a lot of work and creativity, so making SL fully accessible to people such as me is just too much for LL, and so I expect nothing from them.
Alcyan: What are the challenges using a virtual environment?
Gaia: Hmmm …just learning how to do the things I want to do. There is a steep learning curve for all SL members, which is made even steeper for me, because I have to find, or create my own ways of doing things you all can do easily. But, I manage.
Alcyan: Does Second Life break Real Life barriers and can we have some examples of such?
Gaia: Yes, indeed it does! I can do things in SL that I can’t do in RL, including hang gliding, and really seeing famous places in ways I couldn’t, even if I went to visit them. Next on my to do list is learning how to use the metanomic translator, so that I can hopefully communicate with people who speak a language I do not. That would be delightful!
Alcyan: What are your closing comments about SL and VA?
Gaia: Do you mean VAI? But, to close, SL is a wonderful, fun, enriching experience, and I am thoroughly and completely enchanted with it, even when it frustrates me to tears and I vow to leave permanently. I don’t, and won’t, because what it gives me outweighs the challenges it presents, and, well, I love it! I also love my pretty house and garden, and my cat …and more than anything else, the dear friends I’ve made, here in SL.