Virtual Ability Island Expansion

By Nazz Lane

In August of 2008 I wrote an article for this newspaper on the opening of a new SIM, Virtual Ability Island. I’d met and interviewed Gentle Heron, founder and president of Virtual Ability Inc. (VAI), a RL 501(c) 3 Corporation. Since then the VAI presence in SL has expanded. The first change occurred in November, when VAI partnered with Cap Able, a leading community that supports the hearing impaired. In the partnership, VAI became the owner of the Cape Able SIM and has plans to develop it to further enhance their capability in meeting its mission of providing an “orientation and training center for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses”. A second expansion came about when it was announced that VAI would become one of the Community Gateway choices available to all new residents who sign up for SL with Linden Lab.

I caught up with Ms Heron recently. We met in her skybox office, several hundred meters above the orientation center on the VAI SIM. We exchanged pleasantries while I waited for things to rezz. When they did, I took a seat across from Gentle and we began the interview.

Nazz Lane: It seems that SL is rather slow today.

Gentle Heron: We had a whole bunch of new arrivals come in for the Stepping into Science Conference, which slows things down.

Nazz Lane: I had just read a press announcement about Virtual Ability becoming one of the Community Gateway choices. I thought you had one of the best orientation programs around ... congratulations Gentle. How’s it going?

Gentle Heron: Yes, since January 26^th, still a few kinks to work out. We used a research-based approach, with community development input in developing our orientation. It makes it a bit slower, but we like our results.

Nazz Lane: I also saw information about the partnership with Cape Able, was it a partnership or an acquisition?

Gentle Heron: It was an acquisition, as we announced it in November. They were an existing community for D/deaf and hard of hearing people. They were very socially isolated and by acquiring them, we can integrate them into SL society, which after all is a major goal of the Virtual Ability group.

Nazz Lane: How did the acquisition come about?

Gentle Heron: Interestingly Treasure Ballinger approached us. The former owner had a RL health crisis and couldn't continue. Treasure knew of our group and came over for a chat.

Nazz Lane: How long did it take to work out the details?

Gentle Heron: Less than a month. We had to move fast or they would have lost the SIM.

Nazz Lane: Is the integration complete?

Gentle Heron: Yes, it is. It was a residential SIM and we kept the estate manager, Treasure Ballinger. She now is a member of the Virtual Ability, Inc. RL Board. She is in charge of the rental property on Cape Able. But there are two other facilities there of interest, one is a Service Center with tons of resources both for the D/deaf community and the community of the disabled in general. The other is an art gallery run by an RL art curator, Nicolo Anthony. The gallery features works by deaf and other disabled artists. It will reopen the SIM in February with a Grand Opening celebration, featuring two SL artists. The opening will take place on Feb 22nd from 2-6 pm SLT,

Nazz Lane: So the transition has gone well?

Gentle Heron: Folks from the Cape Able community have begun to come to Virtual Ability social events, and mingle, and our folks have gone to their events, and a few have moved over to Cape Able. So it's working well. Treasure is going to make a presentation to our folks about speaking with someone whose native language is ASL not English, the words are similar, but the grammar isn't and sometimes people who speak ASL are taken for stupid by those who don't understand but they truly speak a different language. Treasure's presentation on ASL will also be given at the Dreams Community Fair in February. We always participate in that, it’s a great way to support the community at large.

Nazz Lane: ASL is the American Sign Language?

Gentle Heron: Yes, but typed out instead of signing. There is a display about the grammar differences in the Service Center.

Nazz Lane: So now with two SIMs ... and with this being one of the communities of choice for new avatars ... what else is in the plans for VAI?

Gentle Heron: Oh my, well we've been working with the SecondAbility Mentors group. They serve as helpers for our newcomers. There are bells along the newcomer orientation trail that anyone can ring for assistance and that sends a message to any SAM wearing their HUD the first SAM to respond then is given the SLURL and can TP directly to the person needing assistance. Those bells are now used at the Autism Society of America here in SL, and at the London SIMs. We had a volunteer scripter who created the bell/HUD system. What else we are doing is providing a wiki of resources in SL that the SAMs can use to refer people to for additional specialized assistance.

A Conversation with Gentle Heron about Virtual Ability Island

I found out about Virtual Ability Island through a friend.
She had left me an offline IM and a LM. Her IM was brief and read,
"OMG! Nazz … You have to check this out."
Knowing she rarely overstated things, I decided to take a look.
I arrived at the site and waited a bit for it to rezz before moving. I had apparently joined in on the tail end of a tour so waited until the tour completed before introducing myself to Gentle Heron, the tour leader.
I explained to her that I was a freelance reporter and would be interested in possibly doing a story.
She agreed, but needed a little time before she could meet and she asked me to look around for a bit.
While waiting, I wandered over to the TP point and began reading the signs that surround an arriving visitor. "Virtual Ability Island has been developed through a partnership between the Alliance Library System and Virtual Ability Inc. (VAI).
The goal of the partnership is to develop and island with an orientation and training center for people with disabilities and chronic illnesses." The welcome sign read.
I pulled out a blank note card and started writing out some questions in preparing for our chat.
"Hello Nazz, I'm free now if you're ready." Gentle called out as she approached me. "So how can I help you? And should we do this in IM?" She asked.
I replied that IM would be fine and begin with my first question.
NL: Tell me a little about Gentle Heron?
GH: I'm a Mom of three from Colorado. I have MS and work part time from home. I am president of the RL 501(c) 3 Corporation Virtual Ability, Inc. The Virtual Ability group and this island are two projects of that corporation in second life. We are an all volunteer / donation group.
NL: How was it that VAI discovered SL?
GH: Two friends, SuperQuiet Heron and Sodapop Heron and I checked out virtual worlds because we wanted to find a community where we could "live" virtually since we were all pretty much affected by our impairments. Second life was the most fully developed at that time. We came in here June of 2007, which was before the corporation (VAI). We founded The Heron Sanctuary (THS). It is a group, not just a place. The group is a support community for people with any kind of disability. The two groups, THS and VAI have a hangout island, called VAI Sanctuary. The groups work together.
NL: An Interesting choice for a name, any significance beside the obvious of you three having the last SL Surname?
GH: Of course, a sanctuary is a safe place, where those who are alike can come together for mutual support and can be among those who understand your situation. On our website you will see a summary of the research showing the benefits to people with disabilities of coming into and interacting in virtual worlds. In real life I can't stand unaided, but here I can walk, swim and dance ... anything. Because of that, for me, and for many others, this is far more than a game. It IS a second life.
NL: How many hours a day do you put in SL?
GH: Uh oh! A dangerous question, some days none at all, if I am too worn out or have too much work for my real life employer. Other days, well, let's just say it's more than eight. Working on this island project really is a full time job. I also work part time work for an educational research firm from home and I have three children to support, remember. MS really limits the energy you have, so that limits what you can accomplish. You really have to prioritize.
NL: What has been your most interesting experience in SL so far?
GH: Interesting? Gosh so many. Would you believe I have been bull riding in here? There are so many fun things to do in SL that I can't in RL, even simple things like going to a concert or seeing an art gallery or simply walking in a forest. Those are things I used to be able to do, and I missed them, but I *can* do them now in SL.
NL: Tell me about some about your plans for VAI and this SIM?
GH: The reason to do this island is to bring more people into SL, to support their learning to use the computer here, and to get them integrated into SL society. We have other ideas we'd like to try, but need to plan carefully and make sure this is successful first. One thing we are experimenting with is a form of housing that reinforces the feeling of community. We'd like to do more experiments along those lines. We're also exploring ideas about enabling meaningful paying employment.
NL: How will you know when you've been successful here?
GH: Success isn't how many people we keep in the group, but how many move into SL and they begin to interact and take advantage of what goes on in SL. But surprisingly, many stay or come back to the group to help others.