to leave that career behind. Fortunately, her discovery of Second Life
Involvement in the project has
been both cathartic and insightful provided Solas with a means to reengage in her passion for design,
for Jadyn, providing her with a
clearer view of the last fifteen years notably through her Blue Moon Enterprise label.
of her life, the changes her
the story of my time in SL."
condition has wrought and a
For her piece, Solas has created a
understanding of ow she has come model based on Edmund Blair
Leighton's 1901 painting The
to terms with it.
"I met Tom and Donna through the Accolade. It's an interactive piece in
Parkinson’s disease support group which visitors will be able take free
costumes she has designed and
at Creations Park four years ago,
and I'm thrilled to be taking part," dress as either the queen or the
knight and take their places within
Solas NaGaelai says of her I
involvement in Ethnographia. "Not the scene. As such it reflects both
just for the creative aspect but to the creative freedom Solas has
found in Second Life, and offered
be amongst others that have
disability. I have a hunger for learn- her the mean to present visitors
ing and adapting, and from what I with the opportunity to share in
her love for a bygone era, as
see so does each individual
involved in the project. The insight depicted by Leighton and his peers.
of dealing with their life challenges Virtual worlds, as Tom and Donna
to me is a very enlightened
note, are just a part of the much
experience, and helpful one."
larger domain of internet
technology and on-line presence
Solas was diagnosed with a
which we can use to define
particular form of Parkinson’s
ourselves and potentially reach
Disease known as Young Onset
Parkinson’s Disease (YOPD) – the beyond our personal limitations,
whatever form they may take. But
same form of the disease which
studying the "whole" of the digital
struck Michael J. Fox. When first
environment really isn't that
diagnosed, she was a full-time
fashion designer. However, as the possible; as such, smaller scale
illness progressed, she was forced studies like Virtual Worlds,
Disability, and New Cultures of the
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