When the World Opens Up: Journeys of People with Intellectual Disabilities in Social Virtual Reality
Alexandra Covaci, Winnie Tsang, Sophia Ppali, Paraskevi Triantafyllopoulou, Monica Perusquia-Hernandez, Oscar Zhou, Fotis Liarokapis, Marios Constantinides, Mohamed Khamis, Shujun Li · 2026 · Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '26) · doi:10.1145/3772318.3791783
Summary
This CHI 2026 paper challenges the dominant remedial paradigm in HCI research on virtual reality and people with intellectual disabilities (ID), which has largely framed VR as a tool for training functional life skills (cooking, shopping, transport) in scripted, controlled environments. The authors argue such framings cast disabled people as learners to be corrected and reproduce ableist assumptions about autonomy. Instead, they treat social VR as an open 'world' for identity expression, community belonging and digital citizenship, and ask what becomes possible when design centres self-determination rather than deficit remediation. Eleven adults with mild intellectual disabilities (aged 31-65, IQ range 50-69), recruited through UK ID support services, took part in three scaffolded sessions in the mainstream social VR platform VRChat using Meta Quest 3 headsets. Sessions moved from low-stimulation scenic worlds through structured activity spaces to high-traffic social hubs like The Black Cat. The methodology was deliberately adaptive, grounded in Disability Justice principles and a 'being with' rather than 'being like' ethic: participants chose worlds from a curated list, set the pace, and shaped the trajectory. Data comprised real-time observational logs, reflective fieldnotes, post-study semi-structured interviews and a follow-up interview two months later with one participant who had continued using VRChat independently. Analysis used Reflexive Thematic Analysis without inter-coder reliability, in line with Braun and Clarke's approach. Consent was supported through co-designed Easy Read materials and a structured capacity protocol adapted from Arscott et al.
Key findings
Participants moved from early dizziness and control struggles to interest-driven exploration: P4 revisited Spain via a Spanish-themed world, P2 sought out Pokemon and Furry Hideout, P1 chose Harry Potter. Access was produced collectively through 'care webs' - interdependent support from researchers, carers, peers and strangers - with many participants saying they would only return to VR accompanied by someone trusted, echoing Mia Mingus's concept of access intimacy. Safety was experienced as what felt familiar and welcoming rather than as formal tool use: despite training, participants rarely used the mute/block/report functions in the moment, preferring retreat or polite disengagement. The Black Cat hub surfaced harassment (one participant was told 'go f*** yourself'; another had users role-play 'eating' their doughnut avatar). Avatars were used for identity work beyond likeness: P4's chef avatar referenced past work as a kitchen porter; P2 chose a 'Hyvis persona dragon'. Most strikingly, one participant (P2) bought his own headset, built over seventy Discord contacts, and became a mentor figure - transitioning from novice to community leader in two months. The authors distil six Disability Justice-aligned design principles: design for participation in mainstream worlds, environments for personhood not remediation, interdependence as scaffold for agency, co-creative methodological partnership, evaluate transferable confidence (entry, repair, routine, role, judgement-in-action), and plan for responsibilities beyond the study.
Relevance
For accessibility practitioners, the paper reframes what 'success' looks like when designing digital experiences for adults with ID - away from task-completion metrics and toward participation capability in open publics. Practical implications include: large, always-visible icon-based safety controls that do not require multi-step menu navigation; low-text interfaces aligned with Easy Read principles; staged entry from quiet to busy worlds; and co-designed Easy Read consent and onboarding materials. The authors also make a policy-relevant argument that the European Accessibility Act and EU Digital Services Act can be read as levers requiring social VR platforms to be accessible and safe by default, not through segregated disability-only 'walled gardens'. Limitations include the small (n=11), predominantly White British sample with mild ID, recruited through formal services; findings aim for theoretical rather than statistical generalisation, and uneven engagement (only one participant moved to unsupervised independent use) means claims about long-term trajectories rest largely on that single case.
Tags: intellectual disability · virtual reality · social VR · VRChat · disability justice · participatory design · self-determination · interdependence · digital citizenship · crip technoscience · reflexive thematic analysis · easy read
Standards referenced: European Accessibility Act · EU Digital Services Act