Accessibility and the Industry

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• What exactly is "Accessibility" anyway?
• Why should developers care?
• Why don't more developers worry about accessibility?
• Where do I start?

What exactly is "Accessibility" anyway?

Making a game accessible means making it usable by someone with a disability that falls into one of five categories:

• Vision - Blindness, Color Blindness, Blurred Vision, etc.
• Hearing - Hard-of-Hearing, Deaf.
• Speech - Mute, Slurred Speech.
• Dexterity - Amputee, Quadriplegic, Parkinson's, etc.
• Cognitive - Dyslexia, Learning Disorders, ADD, etc.

Why should developers care?

Outside of increased revenue from gamers with major disabilities who couldn't use our products previously, there are a number of reasons why game developers should think about making their products accessible. These include:

• Increased revenue from gamers who want to support a company that supports the community.
• Great P.R. from local and national media, as well as Accessibility Advocacy Groups.
• The satisfaction in knowing that they are taking a leadership role in the industry and doing the right thing.

Why don't more developers worry about accessibility?

There are many bad assumptions about accessibility issues in the industry and a general lack of knowledge on the part of those creating the games. Some of these false assumptions include:

• "You don't need to hear to play video games."
• "Video games are visual; if you have a visual impairment, you shouldn't expect to be able to play."
• "The cost of implementing accessibility features isn't worth the return."
• "There isn't a wide enough audience to make accessibility development worthwhile."
• "If we make a game accessible to one group and not other, people will think we are discriminating against them."

Where do I start?

If you want to take a leadership role in driving accessibility at your game company, be aware that gathering support for accessibility can be tricky. In addition to a number of bad assumptions, there are two other key issues one must deal with:

• Upper management sees increased expenditures for an unknown level of return.
• Game developers see work that isn't as exciting as building levels, game engines, etc.

So where to begin? We suggest that you start with some basic, easy to implement strategies to help educate your organization and train them to keep accessibility in the back of their minds when they are developing.

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