Empowering People with Intellectual Disabilities through the Use of an Immersive System

Abstract

The inclusion of people with disabilities in the labor market can be a difference in the quality of life of individuals, and to participate equally in society, respecting the rights and obligations is still a challenge. This article presents the development of an immersive system and the evaluation of it focusing on the empowerment of people with intellectual disabilities to labor inclusion. The research is technological and qualitative nature, and the main goal is to demonstrate how a system that uses the Immersive Environments concepts can through the mediation process help empower and eliminate barriers in the workplace learning of these students. The Immersive Virtual Environment Solassist was developed using the UDK game engine and validated in a research participant company. The study was conducted with 11 students with intellectual disabilities, most excluded portion of the labor market. The use of the developed system, together with the analysis of the mediations, showed the feasibility of using for their labor insertion.