Second Life has become a tool for autistic activists to raise awareness of the disability and redefine autism. The organization Autistics.org has established itself on Second Life as the “Autistic Liberation Front.” They encourage autistic persons to purchase land in the same area of Second Life, stating that they are “trying to turn all of Porcupine into liberated autistic territory.”
One woman has gone so far as to work to make her Second Life avatar mimic the ticks and autistic gesticulations she possesses in real life.
On Second Life, autistic users give themselves a voice and express their attitudes towards things like selective abortion and genetic engineering. The internet provides them with a means to express themselves in ways from which they are inhibited in real life as a result of their autistic symptoms.
I think this is a good example of the ways in which virtual worlds can be an aid to those with certain disabilities. A concern voiced in a television news piece on autism explains that virtual worlds, despite being an aid, may not be easily accessible to people with autism consistently, and that it is not an answer to the problems associated with autism.
I don’t think that the claim the Autistic Liberation Front, however, is concerned with encouraging autism on the grounds that autistic people are okay on the internet. I think their goal is more towards promoting awareness that, while they may not communicate normally, autistic people are not necessarily dissimilar from neurological normal people. This is easily one of the best and most practical uses of Second Life I’ve seen yet.
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