Fully paralyzed folks are strictly limited in their ability to interact in the real world. Luckily, the virtual world of gaming and 3D environments like Second Life does not require working arms and legs. All that is truly needed there is a viable interface for easy control of an avatar on the screen. To make these environments accessible for people with locked in syndromes resulting from injury or stroke, a project called COGAIN, or Communication by Gaze Interaction, has brought European researchers together to tackle the issue.
From CORDIS News:

According to the researchers, the gaming-with-gaze software runs together with eye trackers currently available on the market. The eye trackers use cameras to monitor users’ eye movements as they gaze at a computer screen.
Eye movements of able-bodied gamers were evaluated by the developers in order to set up a visual heat map that would trigger commands depending on where users look, the team said. The various eye movement patterns are converted into ‘gaze gestures’ which are used to activate movement or action commands.
‘In the current set-up, we have programmed 12 gesture sequences to activate different keyboard or mouse events,’ Professor Istance [Professor Howell Istance, De Montfort University in the UK] told ICT Results. ‘Many more commands are possible but the total number is limited by the users’ memory and the need to differentiate between when someone wants to input a command and when they are just looking at the screen.’
The team said the gaming-with-gaze software should make the avatars of people with disabilities nearly indistinguishable in their behaviour and abilities from those of able-bodied people in online games and environments.

More from CORDIS News…
Link: Communication by Gaze Interaction….

A collaborative European project to build a system that converts visual input into audio signals may lead to a practical product to help the blind navigate. CASBliP, or Cognitive Aid System for Blind People, involves scientists and technology developed at the University of Bristol, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Universidad de La Laguna, and Siemens AG. By bringing together specialists in computer vision, visualization, 3D modeling, and sensor technology, the CASBliP can already create an audio representation of its physical environment.
Project’s technological objectives from the info page:

The main objective is to obtain a device for the whole V. I. community: totally blind, partially sighted, and people in a situation of progressive loss of vision.

To integrate the developments of University of Bristol (in image segmentation and image enhancement), Siemens (3D Real World perception) and Universidad de La Laguna (in audio representation of space) into a unique basic prototype with the purpose of assisting visually impaired people in mobility in outdoor spaces.

To develop new ways of interfacing with V. I. people: to develop a visual interface (producing coloured and simplified images) for the partially blind people and to develop an acoustic interface (producing semantic and pixelated acoustic maps) for the totally blind.

To develop a system able to calculate a person’s head orientation in a static and dynamic situation.

To integrate in the prototype the 3D modelling system and the intelligent system for the detection of risks and obstacles.

To integrate in a common platform all the data acquired from the environment from different sources: artificial vision system, 3D Real World Recognition System, Positioning system. This platform has to be open.

To generate the necessary communication protocols to integrate all the mentioned modules.

To finally develop a prototype which can be commercialised.

During the project a simple device able to make a direct transformation from the acquisition system into an acoustic representation will be created as a final product (month 18).

Project page: CASBliP…
(hat tip: The Engineer)