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Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.
Virtual Reality promises immersion for all, yet it is built around assumptions of able-bodied users that leave many disabled people behind.
Drawing on original research with users, care providers and developers, this book examines how mainstream Virtual Reality design encodes a narrow idea of the ‘normal’ body – and the real costs of that choice. It shows how decisions made at the design stage, often invisible to non-disabled users, create barriers around vision, movement and sensory experience.
Moving beyond critique, it argues for a fundamental rethinking of VR design centring diverse bodies and minds. In doing so, it not only reframes accessibility, but expands what VR can be, and who it is truly for.
Ben Egliston is Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures at The University of Sydney.
Marcus Carter is Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Professor in Human-Computer Interaction at The University of Sydney.
Kate Euphemia Clark was a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Sydney and now works in government policy.
Gerard Goggin is Distinguished Professor in the Institute for Culture and Society at the Western Sydney University, and Honorary Professor in the Centre for Disability Research and Policy at The University of Sydney.
Kuansong Victor Zhuang is Assistant Professor in Disability Communication at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University.
Wenqi Tan is PhD student at The University of Sydney.
Joanne Gray is Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Discipline of Media and Communications, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at The University of Sydney.
1. Introduction
2. Embodiment: Virtual Realities, Normative Bodies
3. Vision-centric Virtual Realities
4. Neurodiversity: Sensory Exclusion
5. Ready Player Two: Disabilities, Carers, and Co-Constructing Virtual Reality
6. Accessibility is Not Very Accessible
7. Beyond Access: Design the medium to fit the user, not the user to fit the medium