Gaming and Learning with Disabilities
It’s nice to see that game developers are not forgetting the disabled players who make up nearly 25% of all gamers. There are an increasing number of organizations posted on the IGDA Disability SIG that lobby game developers or provide a product to help the disabled or those with limiting conditions to participate in a variety of games and learning simulations. Blind and deaf gamers are the most obvious recipients of extra love from game developers, since closed captioning and audio recordings are fairly easy to accomplish, but even the wheelchair bound, color blind, and brain injured can benefit. Games also contribute to improvements in some disabilities. For example, the elderly or people who have trouble with their eyes tracking properly show definite improvement from first person shooter games or other games that require reacting to fast-moving objects.
There are a variety of new devices to aid with even off-the-shelf games, such as Halo and Half-Life. They include things like larger controller/joy sticks; head, mouth and eye controls; and one-handed controllers. Three stores that specialize in devices for disabled gamers are Game Accessibility, Able Gamers, and Gimpgear. Christina Gonzalez has a nice story of her mother’s gaming experiences since developing multiple schlerosis in this month’s The Escapist magazine. Read other articles I’ve written on disabilities and gaming here, here and here.
