IN·NO·VATE
(verb) make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods and ideas; to do something in a new way.
Growing up, we all dream of what we will one day become. That dream usually has something to do with the type of job we’ll have. Whether we want to teach, design airplanes, help other people, or land on the moon, our jobs are essential to who we want to be and who we are. But for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, a job is something that they’re told is out of reach.
At Easterseals, we know that a career is integral to independence. Not only to have the autonomy to find a career you truly love but to have financial freedom and become self-sustaining. That’s why we utilize innovative technology to foster career exploration, teach job skills, and empower the people we support to find a career. One such technology is Virtual Reality headsets that allow participants to experience different career options, carrying out job duties in a virtual setting.
“One of the things that we’ve just recently started is a program that utilizes virtual reality to assist people in their career exploration, also to develop and hone skills that they have that will help them in the workplace,” Tec Chapman, Chief Program Office of Easterseals, said. “When we think about this, one of our core and strategic initiatives is looking at enhancing access and opportunity for people in employment, and what that requires oftentimes is innovation because we have to be creative in new ways for people to explore things that have never been…”
The VR program allows participants to partake in job tasks for various positions across numerous industries, helping them discover which areas they may be interested in pursuing while honing job-related skills.
“The VR program is designed to have both career exploration and training opportunities in a variety of industries that may be more difficult for the people we serve to get into - a lot of machining, manufacturing, a lot of those types of roles, which due to liability, safety, etc., we’re not always able to get folks into those places to volunteer, intern, or even just observe and see if that would be a career of interest,” Lindsey Watson said. “So the headset is designed so that someone can wear it, use a module to both see that in action, as well as actually provide training and how to complete the different steps for these various trade industries.”
Studies show that individualizing, rehearsing, and repeating scenarios in virtual reality help people with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities generalize social skills and apply them to the real world. This helps teach the job-related and social skills necessary to succeed in the workforce.
The entire program is designed to connect more people to jobs they love, helping them to become independent, engaged members of their communities. A staggering 78% of people with a disability in the U.S. are unemployed - double the percentage of people without a disability. People with disabilities have the skills, talents, and drive to join the workforce.
“These students that we work with often are put in a box by society, by parents, by other providers, and are told that they are only going to be able to do ‘X.’” Watson said. “By using the VR headset and the programming that it offers, they get to see that there [are] so many more opportunities for them and not only [are] there opportunities, but they get to practice and participate in the different jobs and walk away saying, ‘I think I could do that.’”