--- title: "Central Coast Council VR case study: disability awareness" description: "A first-person VR experience that lets community members, businesses and council staff feel, briefly and safely, what everyday barriers are like." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/central-coast-council-disability-awareness --- [Our Work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work) / [Case Studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies) # Central Coast Council: raising awareness of disability A VR experience that lets community members, businesses and council staff feel, briefly and safely, what everyday barriers are like from the inside. On the beach terrace, headset on. ## Part of a wider access and inclusion strategy Central Coast Council developed the experience as part of its strategy to improve Disability Access and Inclusion, particularly in business, sport and recreation. The Council had identified a need to raise awareness across the wider community of what people with a disability face in daily life. ## What the Council wanted people to feel Empathy and a better understanding of the needs of people with a disability in everyday scenarios, for community members, businesses and the Council's own staff alike. A footpath, with a cane. ### Not a checklist of ramps Accessibility is usually presented as a list of physical requirements. The brief was different: help people feel what those barriers are like from the inside, briefly and safely. A kerb, a queue and a cafe table read differently once you have met them from a wheelchair. ## What PTR built A first-person VR experience, co-designed with the Council's Access and Inclusion Reference Group, set in two ordinary public spaces: a beach and a shopping centre. On the sand, guides rising around you. A facilitator beside a participant in a wheelchair. A car park drop-off, from the carer's side. ### Places nobody thinks twice about The beach and the shopping centre were chosen because most people move through them without a second thought. In each, users are prompted to reflect on the barriers a person with a disability might meet there, rather than being told about them. At the cafe counter. Waiting at a reception desk. A resident raises a concern at the counter. ## How it keeps being used Delivered across the community more than 200 times, by the Council's and PTR's count, and built into programs that run again and again rather than a single launch event. A wheelchair user gestures in a scenario. ### Teachers, council staff and CSIRO sessions The experience is used in teacher training programs, in internal council staff training, and in CSIRO-facilitated training sessions. That gives it reach across educators, council employees and a national science agency's own training pipeline. > "Our ethos from the beginning has been about co-designing solutions alongside people with lived experiences." Simon Lowe CEO, People Tech Revolution. [SAE University College, 2018](https://sae.edu.au/insights/brisbane-studio-redefines-conversation-on-ageism/) A wheelchair user at the bus ramp. ### A recurring tool, not a one-off pilot Because the experience lives inside programs that run every term and every intake, each new cohort of teachers, staff and CSIRO participants meets it, and the count keeps rising. ## What participants said Responses gathered after sessions, in the participants' own words. > "The experience was an incredible eye opener into the difficulties faced by people with a disability to engage in everyday activities" Participant Central Coast Council VR disability awareness experience > "I could really empathise and feel the real frustrations of how difficult it is of wheelchair users for things such as going to the beach, meet with your friends and have coffee The obstacles, the designs and the cultures are still not friendly enough for people with specific needs." Participant Central Coast Council VR disability awareness experience > "This was an excellent learning tool and think this program would be perfect in schools due to using latest technology as well as giving a real perspective on barriers and biases people with disabilities face every day" Participant Central Coast Council VR disability awareness experience ## What a barrier feels like from the inside A doorway a chair will not fit through, a counter too high to be seen over, a car park with nowhere to wait. These are the moments the experience is built around, and the rooms PTR builds for them. Measuring a doorway for a rail. Leaning across the counter, choices within reach. Waiting in an accessible car park bay. ## Watch a moment of it A short capture from inside the headset. Live My Experience: VR disability awareness with Central Coast Council A short look inside Live My Experience, the VR disability awareness build made with Central Coast Council. ### Not a list of ramps and requirements Accessibility is usually presented as a list of ramps and requirements. The Council asked for something else: help people feel what those requirements are for. Live My Experience puts community members, local businesses and Council staff into everyday scenarios from the inside, as part of the Council's strategy to improve disability access and inclusion. Want the same kind of result for your own council or team? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/central-coast-council-disability-awareness#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources The delivery count and the participant responses come from the Council's and PTR's own records of the sessions. ### Central Coast Council disability awareness VR, delivery record Central Coast Council and People Tech Revolution The session count and the participant feedback quoted above, held by the Council and PTR. [Ask us for the delivery record](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/central-coast-council-disability-awareness#contact) Related PTR work Related PTR work - [Government & Public Sector case studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/government-public-sector) - [Government & Public Sector](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/government-public-sector) - [Aged Care & Disability](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/aged-care-disability) - [The PTR VR Library](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library) - [All case studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies)