Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's article talks about an early example of what I, quite frankly, suspect will be the future of therapy, job training, and schooling: virtual environments. The program is called Charisma, which is a rebranding of the more clinical previous name (Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training). If you watch the introductory video on Youtube, you'll see it's rather basic as far as virtual reality graphics go. Compare what you see in the movie to this screenshot from a recent video game, and you'll see what I mean.
That simplicity is actually a good thing. One of the major pitfalls of learning how to interact with people is having to process their expressions and body language in real time, while you're handling the verbal component. It's a lot of information to take in, and since we don't necessarily know which bits to prune out, it all comes through. Every bit of hair, every wrinkle in the face, every glance the speaker makes (most glances are irrelevant to a conversation, but some aren't!), it all comes to us in a rush. Some of us handle it better than others, but at worst? Every single movement comes through with a giant question mark (what does this mean?) and the expectation that we'll already know what it means.
This more simplistic virtual reality pares down the detail a person can focus on, while leaving, as far as I can tell, the most important parts: eye movements, body language, and facial expressions. With less detail to process, the autistic person can then focus on both tasks at once: reading the body language and processing the actual verbal conversation.
If you're familiar with the higher rate of anime-lovers in the autistic community, this is off a similar principle. Japanese animation (anime) is not like classical American cartoons. Rather than confine itself to comedy and slapstick humor, anime stretches to all genres. Mystery to science fiction to classical literature to period pieces, it's all there. There's stuff for kids, but there're also things that handle very serious, adult subjects, and everything in between. It's a really robust art form, and I'm kind of sorry I've stopped watching it.
But the main of it is that while the subjects can cater to a mature audience, it's still animated. The faces are simpler. There are visual shorthands to help you understand what the characters are feeling. It's everything TV is, but easier to understand.
So, with that simpler style, autistic people can practice their social skills, and learn work skills, inside this virtual environment, without as much potential handicapping from the complications of the real world. As a population, we tend to be more comfortable on the Internet, and in video games, than in the real world anyway, because it's harder to automatically judge someone on their social skills when all you have to work with is lines of text, or the actions of an avatar. That means our thoughts are more likely to be listened to, rather than dismissed out of hand.
So, creating a video game environment that teaches interactions? One that teaches job skills? I can almost guarantee such a thing would benefit more than simply autistic people. If, as I suspect, virtual reality takes off in the next decade or two, things like this will likely become commonplace. Sick as a dog, but don't want to miss your lecture or get everyone else sick? Stay at home and attend class virtually.
There's a lot to be said for building confidence in autistic people, as well. After a certain point, it starts to become clear to many of us that we simply aren't like others, and others avoid us or treat us poorly because of that. It starts to seem like we can't succeed at anything. Having a place, even a virtual world, that can serve as a starting point, and a place to start to succeed? That's huge. If the skills taught there are more broadly applicable than just "inside this video game" like most entertainment games, all the better.
On a sidenote, this article wording is just adorable. On the subject of adult autistics having to jump through hoops to be accepted in the wider world, this sentence: "A world that would sometimes rather ignore them." Sometimes? Really? Hi, my name is Sarah, the whole world pretended I didn't exist unless I was directly in its face, and then it spent more time stomping me down than anything else. I guess maybe I shouldn't be too rude to the article's excessively polite and idealistic phrasing. But honestly, I think the more realistic wording is "almost always" not "sometimes."
Regardless, I hope programs like this become more common and accessible. These could be the key to helping all autistic people live better lives, especially autistics that don't blend into society very well.
Today's article talks about an early example of what I, quite frankly, suspect will be the future of therapy, job training, and schooling: virtual environments. The program is called Charisma, which is a rebranding of the more clinical previous name (Virtual Reality Social Cognition Training). If you watch the introductory video on Youtube, you'll see it's rather basic as far as virtual reality graphics go. Compare what you see in the movie to this screenshot from a recent video game, and you'll see what I mean.
That simplicity is actually a good thing. One of the major pitfalls of learning how to interact with people is having to process their expressions and body language in real time, while you're handling the verbal component. It's a lot of information to take in, and since we don't necessarily know which bits to prune out, it all comes through. Every bit of hair, every wrinkle in the face, every glance the speaker makes (most glances are irrelevant to a conversation, but some aren't!), it all comes to us in a rush. Some of us handle it better than others, but at worst? Every single movement comes through with a giant question mark (what does this mean?) and the expectation that we'll already know what it means.
This more simplistic virtual reality pares down the detail a person can focus on, while leaving, as far as I can tell, the most important parts: eye movements, body language, and facial expressions. With less detail to process, the autistic person can then focus on both tasks at once: reading the body language and processing the actual verbal conversation.
If you're familiar with the higher rate of anime-lovers in the autistic community, this is off a similar principle. Japanese animation (anime) is not like classical American cartoons. Rather than confine itself to comedy and slapstick humor, anime stretches to all genres. Mystery to science fiction to classical literature to period pieces, it's all there. There's stuff for kids, but there're also things that handle very serious, adult subjects, and everything in between. It's a really robust art form, and I'm kind of sorry I've stopped watching it.
But the main of it is that while the subjects can cater to a mature audience, it's still animated. The faces are simpler. There are visual shorthands to help you understand what the characters are feeling. It's everything TV is, but easier to understand.
So, with that simpler style, autistic people can practice their social skills, and learn work skills, inside this virtual environment, without as much potential handicapping from the complications of the real world. As a population, we tend to be more comfortable on the Internet, and in video games, than in the real world anyway, because it's harder to automatically judge someone on their social skills when all you have to work with is lines of text, or the actions of an avatar. That means our thoughts are more likely to be listened to, rather than dismissed out of hand.
So, creating a video game environment that teaches interactions? One that teaches job skills? I can almost guarantee such a thing would benefit more than simply autistic people. If, as I suspect, virtual reality takes off in the next decade or two, things like this will likely become commonplace. Sick as a dog, but don't want to miss your lecture or get everyone else sick? Stay at home and attend class virtually.
There's a lot to be said for building confidence in autistic people, as well. After a certain point, it starts to become clear to many of us that we simply aren't like others, and others avoid us or treat us poorly because of that. It starts to seem like we can't succeed at anything. Having a place, even a virtual world, that can serve as a starting point, and a place to start to succeed? That's huge. If the skills taught there are more broadly applicable than just "inside this video game" like most entertainment games, all the better.
On a sidenote, this article wording is just adorable. On the subject of adult autistics having to jump through hoops to be accepted in the wider world, this sentence: "A world that would sometimes rather ignore them." Sometimes? Really? Hi, my name is Sarah, the whole world pretended I didn't exist unless I was directly in its face, and then it spent more time stomping me down than anything else. I guess maybe I shouldn't be too rude to the article's excessively polite and idealistic phrasing. But honestly, I think the more realistic wording is "almost always" not "sometimes."
Regardless, I hope programs like this become more common and accessible. These could be the key to helping all autistic people live better lives, especially autistics that don't blend into society very well.
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