[games_access] games_access Digest, Vol 152, Issue 8

Fri May 27 13:02:14 EDT 2016

This outpouring of support for this effort is awesome! Thank you all!!

@Ian: I've already downloaded the 2015 survey results, and I've been trying
to analyze it to see how we can get more detailed data and who to talk to
about all that. I believe we should also consider a similar survey
conducted to see how employers see disability support in their respective
studios/departments (and perhaps any limitations to what they're willing to
provide/see in their studio, especially since the ADA doesn't cover
accommodations for mental and emotional disabilities, if I remember
correctly). Workplace accessibility needs to be a team effort between
employees and employers, if it's to come to fruition and be viewed in a
positive light. Do any of you have suggestions on how we can conduct this
in a way that would provide honest feedback (even bad things will help
paint a clearer picture of what we're dealing with).

@Barrie: I agree with you here; both hardware and software solutions that
would make using some of this software less of a pain to use would be
great! Frankly, I'm not even sure where to start on that besides marco'd
keypads, but it is certainly something we need to put a lot of work into.
As for the clear resource, do you think a website or something similar
would suffice?

@Brandon: Thank you for pointing me to that forum! It's very informative
and should provide another great source of feedback as to how we can help
them.

@Michelle: I'm glad to have your help! I agree, a separate listing for the
support group would be ideal. I was also thinking of perhaps setting up
some sort of system for people who will only talk anonymously for fear of
social or employment consequences. We'll definitely have to work hard to
counter this anti-disability thinking that seems so prevalent, but until
then it's important that people know they can seek help without thinking it
will negatively affect their career.

It seems there's a lot of ground to cover, but hopefully this is a step
toward a more accessible and open industry for everyone! Again, thank you
all. :)

On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 10:28 AM, Michelle Hinn <michellehinn at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Yes it's only natural that we grow in this way to encourage career support
> and accessible tools for game creation. And covering both can easily help
> all the SIG goals with good communication and periodic reports to all other
> SIG projects. I'm excited about this - I always wanted us to someday have
> enough help to get the ball rolling on adding the other half of our mission
> statement!
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On May 27, 2016, at 9:18 AM, Barrie Ellis <barrie.ellis at oneswitch.org.uk>
> wrote:
>
> Fine initiative. Something that a number of people have said to me, who
> use switches to access their computer, is that they would love a clear
> resource pointing to the easier tools for game creation (Game Maker, Twine
> etc.) with ready to adapt templates (especially with some accessibility
> features in-place).
>
> Something really important for the tools themselves, for such users would
> be for them to have ways to make them less fiddly / laborious to use. No
> small task, but important.
>
> Barrie
>
>
> On 27 May 2016 at 10:39, Ian Hamilton <i_h at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> I don't think I can make it over unfortunately, but I think that Javier
>> Mairena is based in Madrid now? Also Javier Torrente is a pretty prolific
>> accessibility academic who used to be in Madrid, although I think he might
>> have moved to London now.
>>
>>
>> Gabby, the best source of data currently is the IGDA developer
>> satisfaction survey, which is a general developer survey of that in 2015
>> covered around 3000 developers:
>>
>>
>>
>> http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.igda.org/resource/collection/CB31CE86-F8EE-4AE3-B46A-148490336605/IGDA%20DSS%202015-SummaryReport_Final_Sept15.pdf
>>
>> Here's the section on disability:
>>
>> *Snapshot: Disability *
>>
>>
>> *This year, 22% of respondents identified as having a disability; 6%
>> declined to respond and 2% said they did not know. This is in line with
>> statistics for the populations of the countries primarily represented in
>> this survey. Among those who reported one or more disabilities, the largest
>> disability listed was psychiatric and mental illness, which represented 9%
>> of respondents. The next largest disability category was for visual
>> impairment and represented 6%. The third most listed disability was
>> physical in nature, with 4% of respondents identifying this way. This is in
>> line with reported 2010 statistics for the population of the United States
>> where 19% reported having a disability, broadly defined. *I'm sure they
>> wouldn't mind providing the full detailed data that they have on it. That's
>> from the 2015 survey, the 2016 survey results will be available in August.
>>
>> Although support for disabled developers is part of the
>> accessibility SIG's mission statement, once momentum gathers it might be
>> nice to see it as a dedicated SIG, in the same way as the other diversity
>> SIGS - the women in games SIG and the LBGTQ+ SIG? For example the safe
>> discussion space being a separate mail list / linked in group etc to the
>> accessibility one?
>>
>> Ian
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* games_access <games_access-bounces at igda.org> on behalf of
>> Michelle Hinn <michellehinn at gmail.com>
>> *Sent:* 27 May 2016 08:17
>> *To:* IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List
>> *Subject:* Re: [games_access] games_access Digest, Vol 152, Issue 8
>>
>> I'm excited to be working on the expansion of the SIG with Gabby! Yeah, I
>> wasn't gone -- just dealing with some biopsies on my back that could not
>> wait. I've been working behind the scenes though -- the SIG mailing list
>> bug reports and subscription notices go through me! :)
>>
>> On a side note -- anyone in the SIG going to be in Spain the week of June
>> 9th - 16th? I'll be in Madrid, Granada, and Barcelona (and before that
>> Lisbon (June 4-9)  for my husband's genetics conference). If so let me know
>> -- it would be great to have drinks!
>>
>> Michelle
>>
>> On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 2:57 AM, Thomas Westin <thomas at westin.nu> wrote:
>>
>>> Welcome Gabby!
>>>
>>> This is an important contribution to the SIG's focus on game
>>> accessibility, and Michelle Hinn has volunteered to join in on this! Great
>>> to have you back Michelle – or, OK, you’ve always been here :)
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Thomas
>>>
>>> > 27May 2016 kl. 07:23 skrev <games_access-request at igda.org> <
>>> games_access-request at igda.org>:
>>> >
>>> > Send games_access mailing list submissions to
>>> >       games_access at igda.org
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>>> > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
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>>> >
>>> > You can reach the person managing the list at
>>> >       games_access-owner at igda.org
>>> >
>>> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>>> > than "Re: Contents of games_access digest..."
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Today's Topics:
>>> >
>>> >   1. Introduction and Open Question (Gabby Taylor)
>>> >   2. Re: Introduction and Open Question (Brandon Keith Biggs)
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> >
>>> > Message: 1
>>> > Date: Thu, 26 May 2016 23:04:14 -0400
>>> > From: Gabby Taylor <mittenstehkitty at gmail.com>
>>> > To: games_access at igda.org
>>> > Subject: [games_access] Introduction and Open Question
>>> > Message-ID:
>>> >       <CAN+8F-wqf-sjC=oUM=
>>> bhBg4Jyu+7RzY+sACHUSOdNNosTqfqvg at mail.gmail.com>
>>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>> >
>>> > Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well.
>>> >
>>> > My name is Gabby and I am looking to start a formalized effort to
>>> provide
>>> > support for disabled game developers within the Game Accessibility SIG.
>>> > Considering the overlap between disabled developers and disabled
>>> gamers, I
>>> > feel like this won't be too out of line with the hard work you
>>> wonderful
>>> > people have already put forth.
>>> >
>>> > To kick this off, I'd like to get your input on how we should start
>>> this
>>> > endeavor: I feel it is best to gather information on what kinds of
>>> > disabilities are represented in the industry and how they are currently
>>> > supported (if applicable) to give us an idea of where and how we can
>>> make
>>> > improvements to best effect. I also believe that creating a safe space
>>> for
>>> > disabled game developers and our allies to talk in a confidential,
>>> > supportive environment would be of great benefit for brainstorming more
>>> > solutions.
>>> >
>>> > I'm very excited to hear all of your opinions, and to begin working
>>> with
>>> > you to let the game industry be as inclusive and open to all as the
>>> games
>>> > we create.
>>> >
>>> > Thank you,
>>> > Gabby Taylor
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>>> >
>>> > ------------------------------
>>> >
>>> > Message: 2
>>> > Date: Thu, 26 May 2016 22:17:30 -0700
>>> > From: Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonkeithbiggs at gmail.com>
>>> > To: IGDA Games Accessibility SIG Mailing List <games_access at igda.org>
>>> > Subject: Re: [games_access] Introduction and Open Question
>>> > Message-ID:
>>> >       <
>>> CAKAWQkVZ4B7J9Qz6FLr7rKBj2OUs0q-MpCJyM8Z4uuHHUipTYg at mail.gmail.com>
>>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>>> >
>>> > Hello Gabby,
>>> > There are blind game developers at:
>>> > http://forum.audiogames.net/viewforum.php?id=28
>>> > Not sure about other disabilities though.
>>> > Thanks,
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Brandon Keith Biggs <http://brandonkeithbiggs.com/>
>>> >
>>> > On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 8:04 PM, Gabby Taylor <
>>> mittenstehkitty at gmail.com>
>>> > wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well.
>>> >>
>>> >> My name is Gabby and I am looking to start a formalized effort to
>>> provide
>>> >> support for disabled game developers within the Game Accessibility
>>> SIG.
>>> >> Considering the overlap between disabled developers and disabled
>>> gamers, I
>>> >> feel like this won't be too out of line with the hard work you
>>> wonderful
>>> >> people have already put forth.
>>> >>
>>> >> To kick this off, I'd like to get your input on how we should start
>>> this
>>> >> endeavor: I feel it is best to gather information on what kinds of
>>> >> disabilities are represented in the industry and how they are
>>> currently
>>> >> supported (if applicable) to give us an idea of where and how we can
>>> make
>>> >> improvements to best effect. I also believe that creating a safe
>>> space for
>>> >> disabled game developers and our allies to talk in a confidential,
>>> >> supportive environment would be of great benefit for brainstorming
>>> more
>>> >> solutions.
>>> >>
>>> >> I'm very excited to hear all of your opinions, and to begin working
>>> with
>>> >> you to let the game industry be as inclusive and open to all as the
>>> games
>>> >> we create.
>>> >>
>>> >> Thank you,
>>> >> Gabby Taylor
>>> >>
>>> >> _______________________________________________
>>> >> games_access mailing list
>>> >> games_access at igda.org
>>> >> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>> >> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>>> >>
>>> >>
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>>> >
>>> > ------------------------------
>>> >
>>> > Subject: Digest Footer
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > games_access mailing list
>>> > games_access at igda.org
>>> > https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>> > The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>>> >
>>> > ------------------------------
>>> >
>>> > End of games_access Digest, Vol 152, Issue 8
>>> > ********************************************
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> games_access mailing list
>>> games_access at igda.org
>>> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>>> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> games_access mailing list
>> games_access at igda.org
>> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
>> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> games_access mailing list
> games_access at igda.org
> https://pairlist7.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/games_access
> The main SIG website page is http://igda-gasig.org
>
>
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