We will present the RehabFutures.Design project—conceived during the pandemic as an adaptive pivot from losing access to our newly established transdisciplinary extended reality (XR) rehabilitation clinic. During the parallel betrayal and rescue of pandemic technology, we sought to build a platform for transcending the limitations of the present. This talk will take you behind the scenes of how we developed and launched our platform, our critical worldbuilding workshops, and what we learned along the way. 

Our backstory takes place in the future in which almost everyone is experiencing some form of disability due to an asteroid crash. While this setting is utopian with incredible technology, warmth and compassion are the desired outcome of the technology. We echo some of the pandemic desires (whether they materialized or not), which reduced us to the fundamental aspects of human connectedness: our anticipation of reconnecting or maintaining connection. 

Marientina Gotsis is a Professor of Cinematic Practice at the University of Southern California and Director of the Creative Media & Behavioral Health Center. She is an artist, designer, and technologist working at the intersection of interactive entertainment, neuroscience, and medicine.

Laura Cechanowicz is an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University in the MIX Mesa City Center. Laura is a designer, worldbuilder, and artist using critical worldbuilding to collaboratively build spatialized content focused on embodiment, identity, health, and technology.

Lizzy Hogenson is a stop motion animator and doctoral student. Her work emphasizes recycled materials, tactility, and imperfections while exploring health, body autonomy, and gender themes. 

Julie Lutz is an artist and recent graduate of the University of Southern California’s doctoral occupational therapy program. She studied the impact of Virtual Reality within healthcare and currently serves the senior population in the greater Los Angeles area.