The Avatar in a Wheelchair: A Call for More Diversity in the Metaverse

December 1, 2025; Christina Warren

Virtual environments are inclusive because all users can choose avatars that allow them to leave their disabilities behind in the real world – right? For a long time, this was the stance both users and developers took on the metaverse. Now, a new study by researchers from the University of Stuttgart, the California State University at Fullerton, and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems investigated how users with disabilities feel when their avatar reflects their real-life disability.

The results: While some users with disabilities prefer to navigate virtual environments without their avatar representing their disability, many gave very positive feedback on their experiences with using an avatar that depicts them the way they see themselves. Together with the fact that the inclusive avatars frequently sparked interest in other users whom the study participants encountered in the metaverse and led to open conversations, the authors of the study take this as encouragement to call for more diversity in the metaverse.

"We hope that the results of the study will provide the impetus to actively involve people with disabilities in the development and design of virtual reality technology, and to work together to break down structures of discrimination in virtual space. A disability should not be something that needs to be hidden, but something that can be lived openly in virtual space as well. People with disabilities belong in both the real and digital world," says Katrin Angerbauer, doctoral student in SFB-TRR 161 Project A08 and first author of the study.

The results of the study were published in The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, doi: 10.1016/j.jsis.2025.101935

Full press release published by MPI-IS