Designing Equitable XR for Schizophrenia Survival

Schizophrenia affects about 24 million people worldwide and 1 in 100 U.S. adults. Among veterans, the crisis is even more acute. In 2017, approximately 127,445 Veterans Health Administration patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia—nearly double the rate in the general population. For those with schizophrenia, the danger often lies in stats you don't usually hear about. For example, they are 10–14 times more likely to be victims of violence than to pose any threat themselves. These aren’t just percentages—they’re real people under siege.

• Over 127,000 U.S. veterans with schizophrenia face heightened vulnerability.
• Millions more live with psychosis, marginalization, and daily threat.
• And yet the systems meant to support them ignore their reality.

This session isn’t about profit—it’s about survival and equity. As a disabled Army veteran designing for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, Kat King has built PerceptAR—an AR tool that grounds users during hallucinations and dissociation, using real-time environmental overlays and cognitive prompts.

In this session she’ll explore:

• Trust and alignment in XR/AI for historically harmed communities
• Trauma-informed design for psychosis support
• The ethics of building with—not for—neurodivergent users
• Why disabled and veteran-led leadership is essential in mental health XR

This is not speculative. It’s urgent, human-centered survival design—technology built to keep people alive, not to cash in.