Design of a Virtual Reality-based Framework for Supporting the Work Reintegration of Wheelchair Users

Accidents at work often lead the involved people to severe impairments, which can seriously compromise their life and their work activities. Various studies have proven that, for disabled people, being employed contributes to a better quality of life, thus it is important to give them the opportunity to continue their professional career. This pa-per presents a framework aimed at supporting the training and the work-reintegration of people that, after an acci-dent, are forced to use a wheelchair. In the proposed work, the Virtual Reality is the leading technology for allow-ing the wheelchair users to be trained in simulated environments thus, in safe conditions. Moreover, the behaviour of the users is tracked during the whole training session for monitoring, processing and assessing, through seman-tic models, their functional level and the jobs that are still suitable for them.