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These are my notes, which I wrote while attending the BBC’s “Wednesday 19th May: Motion” event to mark Global Accessibility Awareness Day (which is Thursday 20th May). There were a range of speakers in the 1-hour session. The BBC are running sessions all week, so it’s worth signing up for the others!

Vivek Gohil, is a gaming accessibility consultant:

• Vivek has muscular dystrophy. He started gaming at age 10 with a gameboy: “it helps to escape reality” and is “very important for mental health”.
• At 15, Vivek first experienced accessibility issues with holding a controller. He managed to overcome it with a table and sponges for support.
• The SpecialEffect charity uses technology to help people with physical disabilities to play games to the best of their abilities, using technology such as modified joypads.
• Vivek started a YouTube channel to create accessibility reviews of new games.
• The Last of Us: Part II is critically acclaimed for its accessibility options. It has slow-motion aiming, makes you invisible while prone, has an aiming toggle, and has full control remapping support.
• Vivek would like to see these accessibility options as standard in future: alternate sprinting option, slow motion aiming, remap different actions to either button tap or hold.

Christopher Hills, video editor and founder of HandsOptional:

• Christopher has cerebral palsy, and self-confessed technology geek. In 2012, Christopher studied information technology. He made a video showing how he uses technology to consume his lectures, which he sent to his lecturers and also uploaded to YouTube. It got shared by Chris Pirillo and overnight gained 50,000 views. Christopher now has a sizeable following on his channel.
• It was at this moment Christopher realised “I had something valuable to share with the world, and the technology at my disposal is infinitely more powerful than I’d thought.” After studying film at university, Christopher became Apple-certified in Final Cut Pro, started a consulting business and co-wrote a book.
• Christopher uses a lot of Apple technology, which supports a wide range of a11y features, including Switch Control. He uses Siri Shortcuts to configure his office to shut blinds, close the door, etc, all from one click interaction, and is comfortable completely redesigning his on-screen keyboard layout when it doesn’t suit him.
• Christopher closes by sharing a video of how he flies drones to capture cinematic shots. It goes into detail on his assistive technology setup. Christopher created the music accompanying the video, using apps on his machine. It’s incredibly powerful and moving, and well worth watching.
• “With today’s technology, it is not my body that limits me – it is my imagination.”

Panellists: Brannon Zahand of Microsoft XBox Accessibility, Andrew Bromilow of EveryoneCan, animation student Nu McAdam, and Allan MacKillop of BBC Diversity & Inclusion:

• Nu: keen for us to return to the office – there’s a lot of loneliness in the disabled community that is being amplified by us all being remote.
• Brannon: there is an increasing recognition that “we are not our user”, seen in things like customisation, e.g. allowing you to set your colour preference.
• Andrew: when stuck on an a11y problem, reach out to the disabled community – they are experts. And be prepared to pay them for their time.
• Allan: the current generation of elderly people need support with technology. But he expects the elderly people of the future will be much more tech savvy, playing video games, etc.
• There’s also a shout out to Xbox for maintaining backwards compatibility between its consoles and controllers: good for sustainability, and less of a barrier to those with accessibility needs who have a particular setup.

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