Episode 7
Gaming Accessibility Is a Very Empathy-Driven Industry
Lorelei Root, Eagle's Flight, Digital Accessibility Specialist
Lorelei Root digital accessibility focus with a focus on video games. She shares her experience of becoming disabled due to multiple sclerosis. Having to learn to speak, read and write again, she used the few accessible video games to help provide the road back. This led her to her work consulting about and evangelizing the need for accessibility in video games.
Mentioned in this episode:
Info about Accessibility at Blink
Transcript
(bright music)
Speaker:- Hello, this is digital accessibility,
Speaker:the people behind the progress.
Speaker:I'm Joe Wilinske, the creator and host of this series.
Speaker:And as an accessibility professional myself,
Speaker:I find it very interesting is to how others
Speaker:have found their way into this profession.
Speaker:So, let's meet one of those people right now
Speaker:and hear about their journey.
Speaker:(bright music)
Speaker:- All right, well, here we are,
Speaker:ready to do another podcast
Speaker:where I get an opportunity to have a chat
Speaker:with an accessibility practitioner.
Speaker:And today, I am speaking with Lorelei Root.
Speaker:Hello, Lorelei.
Speaker:Hey, how are you doing today?
Speaker:- Hi, I'm pretty good, thanks.
Speaker:Trying not to melt in this heat wave we're having,
Speaker:but otherwise, pretty good.
Speaker:(Lorelei laughs)
Speaker:- Well, where are you talking to us from?
Speaker:- Guelph, Ontario.
Speaker:Yeah, not too far outside of Toronto.
Speaker:- All right, well, I'm at my home office
Speaker:on (mumbles) island,
Speaker:which is near Blinks Seattle headquarters.
Speaker:And so, it's been hot here as well,
Speaker:but not as much as other parts of the world,
Speaker:but it's good to have you here as part of this.
Speaker:And always a good place to start is
Speaker:if you could tell us a little bit
Speaker:about your current position
Speaker:and the type of work that you're involved in.
Speaker:- Sure, yeah.
Speaker:So I work as a digital accessibility specialist
Speaker:with a specific focus.
Speaker:My career has had a specific focus
Speaker:on video game accessibility.
Speaker:Currently, I work for a company
Speaker:that's actually does corporate training experiences,
Speaker:but a lot of the same tools used in video game development.
Speaker:I'm using to kind of help make sure that
Speaker:all of their experiential learning
Speaker:is as accessible as possible,
Speaker:especially since it's gone virtual.
Speaker:So, yeah, I work for a corporate training company
Speaker:called Eagles Flight, right now,
Speaker:where I'm their digital accessibility specialist,
Speaker:but I also work on contract
Speaker:for a few different game developers as well.
Speaker:And I'm helping inform the design of video games
Speaker:that are currently in the making.
Speaker:- All right, that's a great to hear about that.
Speaker:And I have some things I wanna ask
Speaker:about your current activities,
Speaker:but one of the things I always like to do in this program
Speaker:is to kind of find out
Speaker:where people got their start with work life,
Speaker:live life for accessibility.
Speaker:So kind of, open it up to you as to where to start
Speaker:in terms of your career,
Speaker:you know, what led you to your current career path.
Speaker:- For myself, I am a disabled woman, myself.
Speaker:I have multiple sclerosis
Speaker:and some other health things as well,
Speaker:and I had a massive ischemic stroke in 2014.
Speaker:And that's really when I shifted my focus
Speaker:from just video game development
Speaker:to specifically video game accessibility.
Speaker:And really, it kind of all started
Speaker:because I was a little kid who liked to play games
Speaker:and always wanted to work on games.
Speaker:And then one day found myself unable to play games anymore
Speaker:in 2014 at 24 years old,
Speaker:and just kind of realized that there was so far we had to go
Speaker:to making video games more accessible.
Speaker:So I really shifted my focus at that time
Speaker:to the accessibility side of things.
Speaker:And part of that was just naturally as like, being disabled.
Speaker:I really wanted to advocate for my own needs
Speaker:and for the removal of barriers for my own experience.
Speaker:And as it's gone on,
Speaker:I've had the pleasure of working with
Speaker:other disabled individuals
Speaker:with different types of disabilities,
Speaker:and kind of, been able to collaborate with them
Speaker:on making sure that things are widely accessible
Speaker:to people with a range of disabilities.
Speaker:So, yeah, I think it all kind of started in 2014
Speaker:when I had my stroke.
Speaker:I had a massive ischemic stroke,
Speaker:which was caused by a blood clot
Speaker:and it blocked the blood flow to my brain.
Speaker:So as a result of that, for a very long period of time,
Speaker:I was unable to speak anymore.
Speaker:I couldn't do most things that I used to enjoy doing,
Speaker:but some of the big ones were difficulty with speaking,
Speaker:difficulty with reading and writing.
Speaker:I had the entire left side of my body was paralyzed
Speaker:and I couldn't use it or feel it.
Speaker:So all of a sudden,
Speaker:I just couldn't do the thing
Speaker:that I loved to do for fun anymore,
Speaker:and it was really difficult.
Speaker:And I had a speech language pathologist actually,
Speaker:who would come to my home and try to help me
Speaker:learn how to read again.
Speaker:And she would bring me all of these materials
Speaker:that most of the materials that are designed
Speaker:to teach people how to read
Speaker:are designed with five year olds in mind, right?
Speaker:And it's really hard for me at the age of 24
Speaker:to sit there and get invested
Speaker:in trying to read a story about Polly the parrot
Speaker:making friends at the zoo, right?
Speaker:So I was having a really hard time,
Speaker:and she was the one who was like,
Speaker:let's figure out something you like
Speaker:that can help you learn how to read again.
Speaker:So we sat down and looked at my steam library of video games
Speaker:on my computer, and there were thousands of games.
Speaker:And we went through and tried to find
Speaker:ones that I could do with minimal reading,
Speaker:with no ability to type, and only one hand.
Speaker:And the list from my thousands of games that I have
Speaker:went down to like, three or four games,
Speaker:but it was a start and we were able to,
Speaker:kind of, get me started motivating myself to read.
Speaker:We'd turn down the sound and turn on the subtitles
Speaker:and see if I could still keep up with what was going on.
Speaker:And it just really opened my eyes to the fact that,
Speaker:like, video games have largely excluded disabled people
Speaker:for a very long time.
Speaker:And in the past 10 years or so,
Speaker:there have been just really great strides
Speaker:in video game accessibility.
Speaker:So I've been really, really pleased
Speaker:to be a part of that over the past decade.
Speaker:- Well, yeah, thank you so much for,
Speaker:you know, sharing that about your personal challenges,
Speaker:and you obviously come in amazingly
Speaker:an amazing way forward from that.
Speaker:I was wondering, you know, before that happened,
Speaker:were you on a, you know,
Speaker:what kinda track were you on
Speaker:in terms of your pursuit of education and career?
Speaker:- I was just pursuing coding, video game coding.
Speaker:I was working at the corporation
Speaker:that I work for now, Eagles Flight.
Speaker:They do these corporate trading games.
Speaker:I was working for them and on the side was working
Speaker:for some little Indie developer studios,
Speaker:making video games and making some games myself for fun.
Speaker:That was really the path that I was on.
Speaker:And it just entirely shifted to
Speaker:strictly accessibility focused after that.
Speaker:And I have come a long way in terms of,
Speaker:like, my ability to speak, for example.
Speaker:I no longer struggle with aphasia like I did,
Speaker:but because I have multiple sclerosis now,
Speaker:that's a degenerative disease that gets worse over time.
Speaker:So I don't know what parts of that
Speaker:are going to enter my life again in the future.
Speaker:And I'm really passionate about the removal of barriers,
Speaker:not just for other people,
Speaker:but also because I want to be able to still do things
Speaker:in the future and
Speaker:the way that the world is currently built,
Speaker:there are a lot of things I might not be able to do
Speaker:in five years, 10 years,
Speaker:and I would like to remove those barriers
Speaker:as much as possible.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that people who have, like,
Speaker:no ability to read,
Speaker:I do have cognitive dysfunction still
Speaker:that makes it difficult for me to read.
Speaker:So I use a Screen Reader.
Speaker:I'm a cited Screen Reader user,
Speaker:and I use Voice to Text
Speaker:because I have difficulty with,
Speaker:yeah, still reading and writing.
Speaker:And it's just amazing to me
Speaker:how many areas of the world are inaccessible
Speaker:and areas of video games and tech
Speaker:that are inaccessible to people like me,
Speaker:that it just is so simple to just make them accessible.
Speaker:(Lorelei laughs)
Speaker:- Well, I mean,
Speaker:a lot of people that may not be involved in
Speaker:accessibility directly, really don't understand
Speaker:the importance of the use of Screen Readers
Speaker:or for many people like yourselves
Speaker:and people who may be blind or low vision,
Speaker:and then just keyboard only access in that
Speaker:that's a way to connect up other devices
Speaker:to be able to interact with the computer.
Speaker:And so I think we're,
Speaker:you know, there's been some progress in that area,
Speaker:but there's still a long way to go.
Speaker:And in terms of, you know, your situation,
Speaker:you know, after you had the stroke
Speaker:and were on the road to recovery,
Speaker:was there a time where you discovered accessibility
Speaker:as a profession, separate from it being something that
Speaker:you were hoping to help with your recovery
Speaker:and your interests in gaming?
Speaker:- Yeah, it really started with me
Speaker:wanting to be able to play games
Speaker:and contacting development studios and being like, look,
Speaker:I have a career history in video game development,
Speaker:I see a barrier here to people like me,
Speaker:we can't play your game and I also know the fix,
Speaker:and I would just reach out to development studios
Speaker:and ask them to fix things.
Speaker:And I was also streaming on Twitch a lot at the time.
Speaker:And I kind of,
Speaker:there was this built community of other people
Speaker:who wanted to play games and also had disabilities
Speaker:who came and would hang out in my Twitch streams.
Speaker:And so I would become aware of more issues
Speaker:and I gained a platform in a few different video games.
Speaker:I became partnered with a few game development companies
Speaker:as a Twitch streamer.
Speaker:So I had a voice to speak for people
Speaker:who would come to my stream and be like, I'm low vision
Speaker:and I actually would really like to see this change.
Speaker:A lot of colorblind folks being like,
Speaker:I can't play this game.
Speaker:I can't even watch you play it
Speaker:because there's no colorblind mode.
Speaker:So I was able to start advocating for people,
Speaker:and that turned into why don't I do this,
Speaker:you know, for my job?
Speaker:Does anyone do this for their job?
Speaker:Like, is there video game accessibility?
Speaker:And I started reaching out
Speaker:and connecting with other specialists in the industry
Speaker:who do focus just on accessibility.
Speaker:People like Ian Hamilton and Terra Volker and Bryce Johnson
Speaker:and people who
Speaker:were early days already talking about,
Speaker:not early days, it should have been from square one
Speaker:that were trying to make games accessible,
Speaker:but it's really just been in the past 10 years or so.
Speaker:And I found other game developers at conferences
Speaker:and things like A11Y or LITO is a conference here in Canada
Speaker:that happens every year
Speaker:that's specifically about digital accessibility,
Speaker:and they have a gaming only conference portion as well now
Speaker:where a few days of the conference are all just about
Speaker:video game accessibility, and I've met so many people there.
Speaker:And then there's like GA comp overseas.
Speaker:I would go to these conferences
Speaker:that are focused on video game accessibility
Speaker:and meet others in the industry
Speaker:who work in video game development,
Speaker:care about accessibility,
Speaker:but maybe didn't know how to implement it.
Speaker:And then also, I would meet people
Speaker:who knew how to implement it and maybe didn't work in.
Speaker:So we kind of, it became this hive mind collaborative thing,
Speaker:and I'm still really good friends
Speaker:with a lot of these colleagues
Speaker:because we met at a time when
Speaker:there wasn't a ton of discussion
Speaker:around accessibility in video games,
Speaker:and it's kind of grown from there to now
Speaker:where there are studios like Ubisoft and Naughty Dog,
Speaker:and there are just a lot of studios, and Xbox,
Speaker:they have a huge focus now on accessibility
Speaker:and they have teams that their entire job
Speaker:is to just make games more accessible.
Speaker:So yeah, I kind of evolved into the position of
Speaker:a digital accessibility specialist
Speaker:rather than just a video game developer
Speaker:and a coder and a programmer
Speaker:while the industry evolved.
Speaker:We kind of evolved alongside each other,
Speaker:which has been interesting.
Speaker:And I was no by no means a trailblazer of that.
Speaker:I got to kind of like,
Speaker:follow the trail that other people had already set out.
Speaker:- Well, you know, one of the things that you've been doing
Speaker:which is extremely valuable is your advocacy,
Speaker:your evangelism, and you know,
Speaker:using your position to provide a voice for others
Speaker:to these organizations, and that makes a difference.
Speaker:You mentioned Xbox and Bryce Johnson is one of the people
Speaker:that we've interviewed for this.
Speaker:And, you know, Bryce was kind enough to invite to a host
Speaker:our local Seattle inclusive design
Speaker:and accessibility meetup group
Speaker:at the accessibility lab on their campus.
Speaker:And you see something like that
Speaker:and it just shows a really,
Speaker:you know, thoughtful approach
Speaker:to, you know, bringing people in with various disabilities
Speaker:to think out of the box about you,
Speaker:about what gaming could be,
Speaker:and also working through some of the hard problems.
Speaker:- Yeah, Bryce Johnson is a phenomenal guy,
Speaker:and honestly, I think all of the people that I've met
Speaker:through my video game accessibility work
Speaker:have been just really great people.
Speaker:And it's an interesting dynamic to go to these conferences
Speaker:over any other type of accessibility conference
Speaker:or any other type of development conference
Speaker:because meeting up with these people,
Speaker:it's just such an empathy driven industry.
Speaker:Everyone really cares about making sure that
Speaker:everyone can access play, and joy, and entertainment,
Speaker:and that's such a good vibe to be around.
Speaker:And all of these people that I've met
Speaker:don't just care about their job, you know?
Speaker:Their job is not just a job.
Speaker:And for me, it's the same.
Speaker:It's like our jobs aren't just a way that we make our money
Speaker:and have a 9-5.
Speaker:We're also trying to make it a difference in people's lives,
Speaker:as corny as that seems and sounds.
Speaker:But as a disabled individual myself,
Speaker:I know that the people who go out there
Speaker:and make things more accessible to me
Speaker:as a wheelchair user, for example,
Speaker:I use a wheelchair and people who go out
Speaker:and actually make those changes in the world
Speaker:do have a real impact on my daily life, you know?
Speaker:And I think, I mean Bryce Johnson, as an example,
Speaker:a couple of years ago,
Speaker:when my MS started to progress a little bit more rapidly
Speaker:and I lost function in my left hand,
Speaker:he reached out to me not as Bryce Johnson from Xbox,
Speaker:but just as Bryce Johnson
Speaker:who knows some people who knows some solutions.
Speaker:We're not just looking at,
Speaker:you know, only Microsoft solutions.
Speaker:Here's another thing I heard of that might help you.
Speaker:Here's another thing.
Speaker:Like, what can we do to figure out a way
Speaker:you can still play the games you love?
Speaker:Like, we're all just in this
Speaker:because we wanna make sure that
Speaker:people can still access enjoyment.
Speaker:There's this question that I get asked a lot
Speaker:where people will say,
Speaker:why do you focus on video game accessibility
Speaker:rather than like legislative changes
Speaker:and, you know,
Speaker:making sure there's wheelchair access to buildings,
Speaker:why something is frivolous as video games?
Speaker:Like, why is that the thing
Speaker:you're the most passionate about?
Speaker:And I think there's this kind of idea
Speaker:that video games are just a nice to have,
Speaker:not a need to have.
Speaker:It's like, you know,
Speaker:it's just a thing that people can do for fun,
Speaker:but if disabled people can't do it, too bad,
Speaker:that's not the end of the world.
Speaker:But in my experience, like,
Speaker:the ability to connect with friends,
Speaker:the ability to have a hobby and enjoy your life
Speaker:and have fun and blow off steam,
Speaker:like, that is a need to have.
Speaker:This to me is as important as legislation
Speaker:and access to voting and access to all these other things
Speaker:that I do also care about and do also advocate for.
Speaker:But this is just as important just because it's video games
Speaker:and just because it's recreation
Speaker:doesn't mean it's not something
Speaker:that everyone needs to be able to access.
Speaker:- Yeah I mean that people represent it that way,
Speaker:it seems like really narrow view.
Speaker:I mean the video game industry actually,
Speaker:I believe dwarfs traditional cinema
Speaker:in terms of the amount of money that's there and its reach.
Speaker:And but if you look at what, you know,
Speaker:with the cinema going to film houses,
Speaker:for a long time, there's been accessibility
Speaker:built in both in physical spaces,
Speaker:but also in technology that's available
Speaker:and the movies themselves for a long time,
Speaker:you have been available with closed captions
Speaker:in audible descriptions.
Speaker:So there's no reason that
Speaker:we shouldn't expect the video game industry
Speaker:also be participating in those ways.
Speaker:- Yeah, and there are some really brilliant people out there
Speaker:who are coding just the most impressive things
Speaker:into video games nowadays just for sheer enjoyment.
Speaker:So taking those minds and those,
Speaker:that level of talent and ability
Speaker:and focusing it in on things like,
Speaker:let's make sure people with disabilities
Speaker:can play this game too,
Speaker:there's just so much potential there.
Speaker:- And so in terms of
Speaker:the work that you're doing with video games
Speaker:on a day to day basis,
Speaker:like, what types of things are you involved in?
Speaker:Are you providing feedback and consultancy?
Speaker:Are there any particular tasks that you normally have
Speaker:on a daily, weekly basis with your work?
Speaker:- Yeah, I have a few projects ongoing right now.
Speaker:Bear with me as I scan my mind for NDA.
Speaker:- [Joe] No. - Information, sorry.
Speaker:- [Joe] Sure.
Speaker:(Lorelei laughs)
Speaker:That's the one, the one thing about game development is
Speaker:studios are very, very, very, very,
Speaker:very intense with the NDAs.
Speaker:- Yeah, no problem.
Speaker:Yeah, I mean, you could just talk about it generally
Speaker:if you want,
Speaker:you know, the types of the activities you're involved in.
Speaker:- Yeah, there, for the most part,
Speaker:the most consulting work I do,
Speaker:like, the most contract based work
Speaker:that isn't for Eagles Flight,
Speaker:which is my main job right now,
Speaker:which I can talk about what I do there as well.
Speaker:But most of the work that I'm doing for like, AAA studios
Speaker:and things like that,
Speaker:it's hiring me to look at barriers
Speaker:and the removal of barriers in the mechanics of the game
Speaker:and the mechanics of the gameplay.
Speaker:So it might look like sending me a few copies of a game
Speaker:to play through or developer access
Speaker:to a not yet released game
Speaker:to try it out and then raise any issues that I see.
Speaker:Also, there's been a big push on just general education
Speaker:for development studios and their staff.
Speaker:So sometimes I'll get asked
Speaker:to come speak to staff about like,
Speaker:here are some of the common barriers I see
Speaker:as a disabled gamer.
Speaker:Here are some other things
Speaker:that other people have let me know they see
Speaker:as disabled gamers.
Speaker:And then with looking at it through the lens of
Speaker:having worked in game development myself,
Speaker:I can offer some best practices.
Speaker:So that's often kind of the work I do.
Speaker:And then there's also things that are more social aspect.
Speaker:And so sometimes, I'm brought in more
Speaker:to talk about narrative of a game, to talk about the script,
Speaker:whether or not there's too much ABLLS language
Speaker:or like, any ABLLS language is too much,
Speaker:but whether or not the language choices,
Speaker:like, what are we saying to and about disabled people.
Speaker:If we're gonna talk about disability in this game,
Speaker:if we're gonna have disabled characters,
Speaker:we should have representation.
Speaker:Let's make sure it's realistic representation.
Speaker:Let's make sure it's respectful representation.
Speaker:Let's make sure that we're saying good things
Speaker:to and about disabled players who wanna play this game
Speaker:and let's make sure this game is accessible to the community
Speaker:that we're representing with this character.
Speaker:So if there's a blind character in a game,
Speaker:that's great to have representation,
Speaker:but it would really kind of be important
Speaker:not to profit off the experience of blind people
Speaker:and then not let them play your game
Speaker:because it's not accessible to blind people.
Speaker:So things like that, I often consult on as well.
Speaker:It's kind of been all over the place.
Speaker:Game development studios will just reach out and say,
Speaker:look, we heard you did work with X studio.
Speaker:We heard you speak at this conference.
Speaker:We were wondering, we have this game idea.
Speaker:We wanna put a disabled character in there.
Speaker:What should that look like?
Speaker:Can we run it by you what we're thinking?
Speaker:Or we wanna have, we wanna do an initiative
Speaker:for accessibility and gaming.
Speaker:We wanna do a marketing campaign to show that like,
Speaker:everyone should access games,
Speaker:and we wanna make sure that we're not being disrespectful.
Speaker:So can we run some of this by you?
Speaker:So a lot of things like that.
Speaker:It's kind of all over the place what I do,
Speaker:but the main chunk is probably
Speaker:the actual mechanics of a game,
Speaker:the actual code of a game,
Speaker:looking over that and saying like,
Speaker:this functionally doesn't work.
Speaker:People can't access this.
Speaker:- Well, you refer to it as all over the place,
Speaker:but to me it sounds like you've crafted very thoughtful
Speaker:and comprehensive approach
Speaker:to a lot of different, important aspects.
Speaker:You know, as, one of the things that,
Speaker:another thing I always like to ask about is
Speaker:you know, people's thoughts about the future.
Speaker:You know, we can always kind of,
Speaker:look around us and see things that,
Speaker:you know, we think could be better,
Speaker:we're hopeful that could be better.
Speaker:There are also things that we may be,
Speaker:you know, looking forward to in the future personally,
Speaker:to be working on for our own satisfaction
Speaker:and for the, to help others.
Speaker:Are there any of those areas,
Speaker:you know, looking forward
Speaker:that you're particularly interested in
Speaker:or concerned about in terms of getting done?
Speaker:- Yeah, I definitely,
Speaker:there are definitely some big gaps that I see
Speaker:in the current situation
Speaker:of accessibility in gaming in general.
Speaker:And specifically, I think
Speaker:there's so much cool potential in augmented reality
Speaker:and virtual reality gaming.
Speaker:So, like, VR headsets,
Speaker:that immersive gaming experience,
Speaker:and largely, that's inaccessible
Speaker:to people with disabilities.
Speaker:I was on a panel recently with some others
Speaker:who also all are disabled individuals
Speaker:with a range of disabilities
Speaker:and we were talking about gaming,
Speaker:and all of us were like VR gaming
Speaker:just feels like it's something that we don't get to do.
Speaker:It's like, that's not for disabled people.
Speaker:And I don't wanna live in a world
Speaker:where there's anything that it's like,
Speaker:that's not for disabled people.
Speaker:Everything should be for us too.
Speaker:So I would really love to see a push in,
Speaker:so games like Pokemon Go with the augmented reality,
Speaker:where you're walking around and using GPS
Speaker:to interact with this game, not everyone can do that.
Speaker:There are people who aren't able to do all of those things.
Speaker:And during the pandemic,
Speaker:they changed their game entirely to make it more possible
Speaker:to play from home where you still could go out
Speaker:and go for walks and meet up with people.
Speaker:But you also could experience most of the game
Speaker:just sitting in your home.
Speaker:And a lot of us with disabilities
Speaker:started playing during the pandemic.
Speaker:And then now, as they're scaling those accommodations back,
Speaker:they're saying, Oh, the pandemic is over, which it's not,
Speaker:but they are saying it is and they're saying,
Speaker:so let's scale this back and get back to normal.
Speaker:Well, normal, it's only normal based on
Speaker:a nondisabled person's standards.
Speaker:So it would be really great to see.
Speaker:And then in terms of VR gaming with the headsets and things,
Speaker:there are so many of us, like, when I'm in my wheelchair,
Speaker:if I am playing a game with my Oculus Quest, for example,
Speaker:I have one, and there are so few games I can play
Speaker:where I'm sitting in one spot.
Speaker:You have to kind of move around, which is great.
Speaker:It's great to have that option.
Speaker:And I'm not saying we should do away with that in games,
Speaker:because for people who can do it,
Speaker:I'm sure that's incredibly fun.
Speaker:But for me, if I'm, if it's a day
Speaker:that I'm using my wheelchair,
Speaker:I need to use my hands to move.
Speaker:So I can't shoot and walk at the same time.
Speaker:I can't paint a picture and move around at the same time.
Speaker:I need to use my hands.
Speaker:So I end up like, shooting at the ground in a circle
Speaker:as I'm trying to move and run away from enemies.
Speaker:It would be great to have options
Speaker:that make those types of games also playable
Speaker:by disabled people.
Speaker:So I'm hoping that some people
Speaker:with more knowledge of VR gaming
Speaker:get into that space in terms of accessibility,
Speaker:because unfortunately I have no idea how to code a VR game.
Speaker:I have no idea how to actually work in that space,
Speaker:but I'd love to see change there for sure.
Speaker:I'd also see, love to see a lot more change
Speaker:that's like intersectional.
Speaker:I'd love to see a focus,
Speaker:not just on like making games more accessible
Speaker:to just people with disabilities,
Speaker:but also to remember that people with disabilities
Speaker:come in all shapes and sizes and colors,
Speaker:and they're like, there's and all racial backgrounds.
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:my experience as a white disabled person
Speaker:is different than the experience of a disabled black person
Speaker:or person of color or indigenous person.
Speaker:And that gets lost in the conversation sometimes.
Speaker:And a lot of panels that I've been on
Speaker:that have had some racial diversity,
Speaker:it's really highlighted how the experiences of
Speaker:white, disabled players and black disabled players
Speaker:or CIS disabled players and trans disabled players
Speaker:are just really different.
Speaker:So I personally would like to see more of a focus on
Speaker:remembering that we're not a monolith.
Speaker:And if we're going to just try to,
Speaker:I've had corporations have me sit down
Speaker:and try to narrow down
Speaker:who are we trying to make this game accessible for?
Speaker:Let's build a character,
Speaker:let's build an avatar of a person
Speaker:that is the person we're trying to,
Speaker:like, are they, like, what are they like?
Speaker:Are they a blind person?
Speaker:Are they a, and it's like,
Speaker:let's not narrow the focus so much
Speaker:when we're making things accessible,
Speaker:let's make them accessible to as wider range of people
Speaker:with a ton of different experiences.
Speaker:And that means centering the voices of people
Speaker:who have those experiences
Speaker:and making sure we're consulting with them
Speaker:and involving them in the process.
Speaker:- Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you.
Speaker:You've given me a lot to think about,
Speaker:I've learned a lot myself
Speaker:about things I hadn't considered before,
Speaker:and it's really great to see, you know,
Speaker:all the work that you're doing in advocacy for this area.
Speaker:And you mentioned conferences,
Speaker:and in the olden days before the pandemic,
Speaker:I used to love to go to conferences,
Speaker:and maybe we'll meet up at an accessibility conference
Speaker:at some point.
Speaker:- That'd be great.
Speaker:I do miss the networking part of conferences,
Speaker:but since the pandemic,
Speaker:it's been easier to attend conferences as a disabled person
Speaker:because for me anyway, for my set of disabilities,
Speaker:it's been a lot easier
Speaker:'cause I can watch things later at my own pace
Speaker:or I can, you know, just stay in my home.
Speaker:So yeah, it's been interesting,
Speaker:but it will be good
Speaker:to get back to that social networking aspect.
Speaker:- All right, thank you very much, Lorelei.
