Sunday, April 11, 2021

♥disability needs to be an ability in second life♥

 

Hope everyone is well.

On April 2, 2021, I made a conscious decision to become a wheelchair user in Second Life. I don't know how many people actually read my blog, but I have been on a transformation journey in Second life for the past few months, Making the Second life me look as close to the real-life me as possible. The closer I came to completing my journey, the more I felt like I needed to bring in the wheelchair to Second life; no, it's not a part of who I am, but it is a part of my everyday life regardless if I want to or not.


My best friend CC and me started to look for a wheelchair and other accessories a wheelchair user might like to have.

It didn't take long for us to realize that disability in Second life is not supported widely, and what little we found is meant to be used as a joke and not for everyday use.

It's almost as if second life doesn't want Disability to exist in second life. 

I know some of you will say that second life is used as an escape from disabilities or illnesses in real life for most people. Yes! I completely agree second life was that for many, many years until I decided to embrace it.


It is now almost as if it is taboo to "show off" your disability in second life.

there are no 

ANIMATIONS

Dances 

AO's

Static poses

no couple walker 

no showers

Me and my friend are working HARD to CHANGE this, and a lot of it is already in motion.

We spent hours and hours searching, trying to find me a wheelchair that was not made to be used as a joke, then suddenly my friend came across ONE Creator that makes wheelchairs for those who want to be wheelchair users in second life for whatever reason.

SV Designs

TRUST ME when I say her chair is out of this world good.


The lack of things for disabilities sparked my drive to find a mesh builder that could help me design
and it didn't take long after reaching out to my friends that I found him!

I should not say that Every visible disability is a minority in Second life.
If you are an amputee, then surprisingly, there is a lot of things.

during me and my friend's hours of looking, we came across 
DK scripts

This creator actually has body mods so that you can be an amputee!

it was also at DK Scripts that we managed to find feet that actually look like my real-life feet 100%

Link to the feet

The feet are ORIGINALLY MADE FOR Maitreya  

But they work Perfectly with my Kupra body♥

The only thing is that you can't wear shoes with them, but if I want to wear shoes, I just switch to the kupra feet.

The pose in this photo is HEAVILY Modified to fit me and my chair.

The reactions from people since I became a wheelchair user has been so remarkable and positive that I kind of wish I had done this sooner♥


I would like to think that when people see me and my wheelchair, they start to think about what is actually is disability-friendly in second life and what is not, and also that people start to see beyond the disability.

/Tessa Blackwood