Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and Equal Reality co-founder Rick Martin using virtual reality.
Brisbane’s lord mayor has become the victim of discrimination … in a virtual simulation.
On Wednesday a world-first virtual reality experience to combat discrimination designed by Equal Reality was given $5000 as part of the Lord Mayor’s Global Entrepreneur Program.
A headset and two controllers are used to simulate a situation where the user is in a wheelchair and part of workplace conversation, ater which they are asked if they felt excluded or treated differently.
Equal Reality co-founder Rick Martin said while virtual reality tended to be used in gaming, there were lots of applications.
“Virtual reality is exceptionally immersive. It really has an impact on people. It makes people remember things and it really has an effect on people’s brains.”
The Royal Australian Navy has adopted Equal Reality’s diversity and inclusion program.
Mr Martin said the navy understood where the future of learning was going.
“The military context really understands the power of virtual reality because they’ve been using it to great success with flight simulations and other types of simulation,” he said.
“Historically, getting a bunch of sailors in a classroom talking about behaviour is not the most effective thing to do … but maybe if they have their own personal deep immersive learning where there is nothing else but that learning, it gives them a whole new perspective in their own time and their own way.”
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Source: brisbane times