SHIRE: In MY Shoes ADHD Immersive VR Exhibition Booth

Overview

An immersive virtual reality (VR) experience designed to help healthcare professionals better understand the lived experience of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), showcased at a major medical congress.

The Challenge

Clinicians understand ADHD clinically, but many have limited insight into how it feels to live with the condition day to day. The challenge was to move beyond facts and symptoms and create a way for healthcare professionals to truly see the world through their patients’ eyes — building empathy, understanding and support in a meaningful, memorable way.

Conclusion & Results

The Approach

We recommended an immersive VR experience that would allow clinicians to step into the lives of people with ADHD and experience everyday situations first-hand.

We designed and produced three short VR scenarios, experienced in sequence, each placing the viewer in a first-person perspective as a child, an adolescent and an adult living with ADHD. Each scenario focused on situations where ADHD has the greatest impact — from school and exams to the workplace — bringing common symptoms to life through inner dialogue, environmental distractions and sensory overload.

All content was developed in close collaboration with psychiatrists, healthcare professionals and people living with ADHD to ensure clinical accuracy and authenticity. Surround sound was used to guide attention and control pacing, while careful technical testing ensured a smooth, comfortable experience with minimal motion sickness.

To support delivery at congress, we designed and built custom hardware and managed the full technical setup on-site, allowing multiple delegates to experience the VR simultaneously while ensuring a seamless flow through the booth.

Key deliverables included:

Three immersive VR scenarios (child, adolescent and adult perspectives)
Script development and narrative design
3D environments and character animation
Surround sound audio design
Custom-built VR hardware and PCs
On-site technical setup and support
Congress-ready VR installation

The Impact

The VR experience gave clinicians a powerful, first-hand insight into the challenges faced by people living with ADHD, helping to shift perception from symptoms to lived reality. Feedback highlighted the emotional impact of the experience and its effectiveness in building empathy and understanding in a way traditional materials cannot achieve.

The installation became a focal point of the congress booth, driving engagement, discussion and deeper awareness of ADHD among healthcare professionals.

“The reaction to the in my shoes experience was amazing. With some strict management we got nearly everyone through and the service users thought it was a really accurate portrayal while clinicians found it really thought provoking. Several people did mention the relevance to teachers in feedback and in discussion with me. ”

Professor David Daley