What if you're sitting in class,and suddenly time skips? What if you're lying on the floor in a crowded school hallway, and everyone is staring? What if your brain won't cooperate, but no one around you truly understands what's happening?
In "Dizzying Reality”, a new 360° virtual reality experience developed by De Berkenschutse, the Dutch National Network for Education and Epilepsy (LWOE), and creative technology studio Boldly, you experience epilepsy from the inside out. Not as an observer—but as the child going through it.
“We want to show what epilepsy really does to a person—not just physically, but socially too,” says Albert Westerling, educational consultant at LWOE and expert at De Berkenschutse, the Dutch centre of expertise on education and epilepsy. “That feeling of disorientation, of being thrust into the spotlight against your will, and how classmates react to you—it’s hard to explain with words. But in VR, you can make people feel it.”
Five scenarios. In four, you are the child with epilepsy.
The VR experience consists of five immersive scenes, all set within the context of a Dutch primary school. In four of them, you are the child having the seizure—ranging from absences to focal and tonic-clonic seizures. In the fifth, you take on the role of a bystander who must respond.
This is not just a video to watch—it’s an attack you experience from within. Through visual distortions, time jumps, muffled voices, and social cues ranging from concern to confusion to ridicule, the experience evokes the vulnerability and disconnection that often accompany epilepsy.
“VR is uniquely suited to placing people inside another perspective,” says Yannick Boers, Creative Director at Boldly. “But we didn’t want to show something spectacular. We wanted to simulate the everyday, and how epilepsy disrupts that. The feeling of losing control, of your senses being out of sync, of how others react to you—VR makes that hit home in a way no textbook can.”
From awareness to behavioural change
Dizzying Reality was developed specifically for use in primary education, in close collaboration with teachers, parents, and healthcare professionals. The goal is not just to increase understanding of epilepsy—but to encourage more informed, supportive, and inclusive responses to it.
The experience comes with educational materials and is delivered via a simple control system—based on Showtime VR—that allows schools to run the experience independently. It’s designed to be accessible, scalable, and easy to use during awareness weeks, class projects, or staff training sessions.
“You can explain what an absence is,” Boers adds, “but when you are the student in class, and you suddenly ‘aren’t there’, and your classmates look at you strangely—then you get it. That’s the power of immersive media.”
Launching in schools from 2026
The first implementations of Dizzying Reality will begin in 2025 in partnership with epilepsy networks and primary schools across the Netherlands. The creators hope to see it adopted more broadly as part of the national education toolkit around inclusion, health, and social safety.
Note for the press – More information or demo requests: Albert Westerling – LWOE / De Berkenschutse ✉︎ a.westerling@lwoe.nl www.lwoe.nl
Joep Kuijpers & Yannick Boers – Boldly info@boldly-xr.com
Dizzying Reality is a collaboration between De Berkenschutse, the National Network for Education and Epilepsy (LWOE), and Boldly. With special thanks to all participating students, teachers, healthcare professionals and people with lived experience. Technical distribution is supported by Showtime VR.
Media Contact
Company Name: Boldly-XR
Contact Person: Yannick Boers
Email: Send Email
Phone: 076 204 3059
Address:Reduitlaan 29, 4814DC
City: Breda
Country: Netherlands
Website: Boldly-XR.com
