Abstract:

This paper explores the potential of avatar-based tools as inclusive pedagogical resources for digital health education, grounded in the Screen4Care project and practice-based doctoral research at University College Dublin. The TouchRD and TalkRD prototypes demonstrate how avatars representing diverse life stages, gender identities, and rare disease trajectories (Pompe, Fabry, hATTR) can be co-designed to reflect lived experiences while ensuring medical accuracy. By situating patient and caregiver narratives within structured digital walkthroughs, the prototypes facilitate both symptom logging and rule-based assistive feedback in accessible formats. These tools not only support earlier diagnosis and patient empowerment but also exemplify transferable methods for teaching inclusivity and accessibility across disciplines.

The study employs a practice-based co-creation methodology that foregrounds marginalised voices, bridging gaps between abstract medical data and embodied human experience. Findings show that avatars help learners visualise complex medical and ethical scenarios, fostering empathy and critical engagement with diversity in healthcare. Beyond health contexts, this approach offers a replicable model for using avatar-driven interactivity as a pedagogical medium, aligned with 21st-century skills in digital literacy, collaborative problem-solving, and ethical awareness.

Contribution statement:
This work contributes a novel framework for using avatars in inclusive educational design. It demonstrates how co-created, medically accurate digital narratives can serve as both clinical support tools and teaching aids, extending inclusive design methodologies into mainstream educational practice.

Keywords:

Inclusive design, co-creation, avatars, digital health education, accessibility, rare disease, rule-based assistive learning.