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Experience BUT at Researchers' Night: What's it like to see the world differently?
Each of us perceives the world around us a little differently. But what would it be like if our limbs suddenly stopped working, reading became more difficult, or we could no longer control a computer with our hands? Visitors to Researchers' Night can experience all of this for themselves at the Alfons Centre.
Empathy, attention, understanding. These words capture the essence of the activities that show that accessibility is about much more than ramps and lifts. Sometimes all it takes is a change in the way we read, communicate or use technology. “All four activities offer the same thing – a chance to experience for a few minutes what it is like to perceive the world differently from what we are used to,” explains Žaneta Novotná from Alfons, a centre for students with special needs.
Wearing VR glasses with the VR4ALL application, visitors will enter a supermarket, kitchen, ATM or gallery and activate simulations of various disabilities on their avatar. They can experience, for example, moving around in a wheelchair or what it is like to live with a missing limb, Parkinson’s disease, glaucoma or colour vision deficiency. Another experience is offered by SunBall, where visitors will try to control a ball on a screen using only their breath and attention, without a mouse or keyboard. At the “When the Brain Communicates Differently” station, they can experience how challenging reading and writing can be for people with specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia. The programme will also introduce Czech Sign Language. Visitors can try lip-reading, take a fun quiz or talk about the culture, communication and everyday lives of deaf people.
The aim of this special programme is to offer a new perspective on the world and show how virtual reality and modern technologies can help us better understand the experiences of others. After all, ordinary situations that most of us manage without a second thought can look completely different to some people. “I enjoy the moment when it suddenly clicks for people as they experience for themselves how challenging everyday decisions such as crossing a street or reading a sentence can be with a limitation they do not have themselves. In a few minutes, they understand more than they would from a one-hour lecture,” Novotná highlights.
At Alfons, she regularly meets people with specific needs and sometimes encounters moments when she realises that many things around us simply are not accessible to everyone. This is why she considers raising awareness about accessibility to be absolutely essential.
And what should visitors remember after Researchers' Night? “Above all, that the way we function is not the only right way. Accessibility is not just about people who use wheelchairs, people with dyslexia or deaf people. It concerns all of us,” she concludes.
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Researchers' Night takes place on Friday, 25 September, and all faculties and constituent parts of Brno University of Technology will take part. Laboratories, classrooms and research facilities will open their doors to the public and offer a programme full of experiments, interactive demonstrations and opportunities to meet scientists. More information can be found on the Researchers' Night website. Come and discover how the technologies that shape your everyday life are created – and experience BUT for yourself! |
Author: Lenka Hubáčková
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