The first step of inclusion is understanding of an individual or a problem by the community. It is a necessary condition in order for inclusion to happen. The Autism Simulator in virtual reality is an innovative tool that enables people in the community to experience the world of autism. Personal experience is the highest form of learning and understanding. The Simulator contributes to getting through the first step of inclusion on the highest level possible, which is also a project intension.

Orava, Northern Slovakia

Orava region has tough living conditions. Typically, people travel for work outside of the region. Also, lots of families feel ashamed of their autistic family members. People often consider autistic individuals useless based on their beliefs.
We want to create a basis for inclusion of autistic people and overall quality of life improvement in communities.

The target groups for the workshops will be mainly autistic individuals, their family members, teachers, local sports club leaders, local community leaders, local employers.
We are inviting at least 2 members from each target group - 1 that has a successful experience with an autistic individual (e.g. employer successfully employing an autist) and 1 that is from a local community that is new to this topic and needs help.

We are going to start with identifying keys partners - successful employers, families, teachers, and community leaders.
Next, we will identify well-targeted local communities struggling with the inclusion of an autistic individual. We will make sure to understand the underlying problem well.
Then we will design a specific workshop with an aim to increase understanding of each stakeholder and engage stakeholders in a debate to discuss what is possible and to determine what action steps to be done next.

Our goal is to increase the understanding of autism and autistic individuals within communities. We will be successful when relevant stakeholders will be aware of the aspects of autism and have the knowledge of how to empower these individuals. We will measure their understanding before and after our intervention. A marker of success will be the level of inclusion of autistic people in the activities of particular local community.

Our project idea helps to reduce segregation, on one hand, and increase the inclusion of people with autism into society through knowledge and understanding of autism on the other.
We want to do it via workshops that will allow for dialog among stakeholders within local communities and by sharing examples of good practice applications, for example, how to include young people on the spectrum into sports activities or how to successfully create and maintain a job for an autistic individual.

The mission of SPOSA is to improve the quality of life of autistic individuals as well as their family members. SPOSA is a parental organization and we do care about integration of our autistic children and siblings.

Office rent + utilities: 2500 EUR
Travel and accommodation: 6000 EUR
Personal costs (lecturers, project management): 36500 EUR
Public relations: 3500 EUR
Hardware and service: 1500 EUR

We will be happy to receive any kind of feedback.