System: Oculus Rift
Price at Time Of Review: Free
Comfort Rating: Green (No Movement)
Genre: Interactive Experience
Input: Gamepad
Best Playing Position: Sitting, Standing
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG
Description: In just one minute you will acknowledge feelings experienced by person with autism in a regular café. Our simulation is based on a premise that most of the autistic people suffering from multitude of autistic spectrums are easily distracted by elements and inputs in the world around that a normal person filters automatically. We offer you an unique experience by seeing too many details, being distracted by irregularities and trying to regulate the irregularities into a regular order. This causes autistic person to be overly focused, easily startled, absent-minded or aggressive.
Review: With this new wave of virtual reality comes a new wave of creative people who are looking to use VR for things other than gaming. This is where The Autism Simulator comes into it. This is an immersive experience designed to give you a little glimpse into the life of someone who is suffering from one of the multitudes of autistic spectrums.
It starts off with sounds becoming highly noticeable, then patterns, then more sounds, then colours then even more sounds until even I wanted to take the headset off and scream! But that is the point of this app, to show people how a normal situation can easily turn out of control.
I have quite a unique perspective on this because I have a son that suffers from autism. Shopping, parties, even going to the beach or doing something fun can be a nightmare if anything sparks his attention. Having played this app I have been given a little look into his mind, but it doesn’t make the everyday challenge we have with him any easier. But what it does do is help me understand why those challenges exist.
