FYI - Countdown to the 20th Anniversary of the ADA: Day 48 - Video Games & Disability

Folks here may find this recent update from the ADA folks in DC of
interest. I look forward to talking with you all in a couple of weeks
as I prepare to go to Washington for the conference and to meet with
Congressman Henry Waxman.

Best,
LjR



Begin forwarded message:

> Date: June 8, 2010 8:02:59 AM PDT
> Subject: Countdown to the 20th Anniversary of the ADA: Day 48 -
> Video Games & Disability
> Source: Disability.gov
>
> By Guest Blogger Patrick Cokley, Office of Disability Employment
> Policy, U.S. Department of Labor
>
> There is no way that you can ignore the presence of video games.
> What was once a hobby designed mostly for children and young men has
> become a billion dollar market equal to other forms of
> entertainment. Baseball is considered the American past time, and
> the values of the sport are supposed to reflect the values of our
> nation. Does video gaming have the same influence? If you are a
> person with a disability, the answer may be yes.
>
> Lets look at how we access video games. For those of us of a
> certain age, we remember the early days of video games, where in
> order to play you had to find an arcade. Gaming was a group activity
> and a place to meet friends and competitors. Unfortunately,
> accessibility was hard because you had to physically go to a place
> to play. The home gaming system has changed that.
>
> Though there are many different versions of this story, for me, the
> change was brought about by the Atari 2600. This 8-bit dynamo made
> it so that I no longer was held back by mobility or time, and the
> arcade was as accessible and as close as my own living room. Gaming
> has developed and grown since those halcyon days. With the Internet
> and Wi-Fi, we can play with friends in the same room, across town or
> around the world. This interaction engages many people, including
> members of the disability community, who because of transportation
> or health concerns, may not have been able to connect with such a
> large network in the past.
>
> For people with disabilities, accessibility is as crucial to gaming
> as it is to having easy and equal access to facilities. A key
> component of accessibility is the interface - what we commonly refer
> to as a joystick or controller. Until recently, the joystick or
> trackball were your only options for controlling the game, and they
> had limited capability to accommodate to the users needs. By the
> early 1990s, gaming companies began experimenting with different
> forms of interfaces, many of which were designed to use more natural
> motion for game controls. Though this was done to enhance game
> control, a more organic controller not only turned out to be fun to
> use but also more accessible for individuals with dexterity
> disabilities. This prompted an approach to gaming and controllers
> that is intuitive and more universal than the previous one-size-fits-
> all joystick with the red button.
>
> Some of the latest hurdles to gaming now being addressed are visual
> and auditory cues. Faster processing speeds and memory have caused
> games to become more complex with extended plot twists, multiple
> outcomes, movie quality production and interactivity. These
> innovations allow for the types of accessibility that are used in
> mainstream media (such as captioning) to let the players know what
> is going on. Gamers with visual disabilities have also requested the
> ability to change contrast and screen size to better serve players
> who are color blind or need larger fonts. Gamers who are deaf can
> now play using vibrating controllers, which offer another method of
> interaction where hearing is not necessary.
>
> If you were born after 1975, some form of video gaming, be it
> electronic, computer- based or online, has always been an
> entertainment option. And, like all forms of entertainment media,
> gaming is continuing to evolve. Although it is not completely
> accommodating to the needs of individuals with disabilities, there
> is certainly a push to make sure that everyone has equal access to
> gaming options.
>
> For More Information
>
> There are online networks that review the accessibility of various
> video games currently on the market. The Web site AbleGamers.comis a
> fan-based resource where gamers can find reviews of games based on
> their accessibility as well as a forum for discussion on ways to
> enjoy an accessible gaming experience.
>
>
>
> Read more
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