VIRTUAL ABILITY INC.
Virtual Ability® is a cross-disability peer support community that operates in online virtual worlds like Second Life®. The Virtual Ability on-line community has over 1,000 members from six continents. Our members have a wide range of disabilities: physical, mental, emotional, developmental, or sensory (deafness or blindness). Many use assistive technology in their daily lives, or to access their computers.
Supporting the Virtual Ability online community is Virtual Ability, Inc., the real-world corporation. Chartered in Colorado, USA, Virtual Ability, Inc. is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation. The corporation provides services and information for and about people with disabilities in online virtual worlds such as Second Life. The majority of the funding we use to conduct our virtual world operations and provide services to our community members is earned from projects conducted by the corporation. These projects not only enable the virtual community, but they offer opportunities to train and hire persons with disabilities to do specific tasks. Virtual Ability, Inc. is governed by a Board of Directors.
Virtual Ability is a vibrant community with its own culture and norms. It’s a group with a strong and evident sense of belonging. In fact, it’s a model for vibrant and healthy communities everywhere.
Virtual Ability has been a community in Second Life for over eight years, offering a supportive environment as people with various disabilities enter and learn to thrive in the online world. Virtual Ability is more than just a “virtual place.” It is a true community, where individuals who physically live across the globe come together for conversation, learning, social activities, expeditions, and fun. Some take courses; others teach. Some mentor, others are mentored. Members create or build virtual architecture, write books or poetry, perform in plays, DJ, dance, play games, raise virtual gardens and virtual animals, or experience adventures of every type… all in a virtual world, from the comfort of their own computer. Community members bring extremely diverse backgrounds and experiences to the group and many are also active in other virtual world groups.