Heeju Kim wants people to fathom what it would be like to be incapable of reading others’ body language and to be perpetually inundated with strange, troublesome noises. The end goal is to give you insight into the sensory and motor challenges that individuals with autism spectrum disorder face, and in turn, cultivate greater empathy.
Kim, 29, has spent many years trying to better understand the experiences of her 27-year-old brother who has the disorder. In addition to various sensory issues, her brother is affected by apraxia of speech, making it hard for him to turn thoughts into intelligible speech. While they were growing up, Kim observed in her brother’s school classrooms that other kids were reluctant to interact with him. Taking what she learned from those experiences and the extensive literature on the disorder, Kim created a virtual reality experience called “An Empathy Bridge for Autism” in 2016 as a master’s student at the Royal College of Art in London, England.
“I thought virtual reality has the potential to make an impact on the way we approach patient care or helping the disabled,” Kim said. “When we see blind people or someone riding in a wheelchair, we know what’s going on with them. We know they can’t see so we should help them, or they can’t work so we should support them. But when people see someone with autism, they don’t know why they’re doing weird behavior and they might ignore them to escape from an awkward experience.”
[For more on this story by Liz Brazile, go to https://www.yesmagazine.org/ha...ach-empathy-20190115]
Comments (0)