I’m continuing the interview with Steve Spohn, Associate Editor of AbleGamers.com, an outstanding resource for video and computer game devotees who have disabilities.

Steve Grobschmidt (SG): I imagine some game types or genres are easier to be made accessible than others. And there are many different kinds of disabilities: visual, hearing, physical, cognitive, etc. How do developers balance making great, cutting edge games that still are playable for as many disabled gamers as possible?

Steve Spohn (SS): In a word, options. Options are extremely undervalued right now by the video game industry. In fact, most of the people who are unwilling or resentful of our work think that we want to change games in some way, and that is absolutely false.

AbleGamers wants developers to add options that can lend accessibility to video games for those that need a particular accommodation. No one wants to see video games “dumbed down” or made easier in any way. The ultimate goal is to add as many options that add value to a video game without taking anything else away. Items like remappable keys, subtitles, color blind options, mouse speed adjustments, and assistive device support, are all items that could add additional value to a title but for those who do not need any of those options, the game would not be hurt in anyway. In fact, if done correctly, those who do not need the accessibility may not even realize it’s there.

SG: How do you go about testing games? I see from your About Us section that there are staff members with disabilities of their own, including yourself. Do you just test games yourselves, or do you also reach out to other sources for testing?

SS: Our writers test every game personally. We have an in-house game review document that every video game must be put through. In addition, we have a rather large community that will keep us honest. If you read the review section, not everyone agrees with our assessments. This is because disabilities are widely varied, and everyone’s idea of how much accessibility is needed to be able to play a game changes.

We review games based on the ability to play them with standard equipment such as a keyboard and mouse. We then use the comments section to provide information on third-party assistive technology enabling some disabled gamers to play this or that. If there is a way to play a game, our members will find it.

SG: What kind of reception do you get from the gaming industry? Do you feel your presence and advocacy is being heard?

SS: Right now, I would say lukewarm. There are some companies, as I mentioned before, that are very receptive to our needs and requests. However, there are some that want nothing to do with accessibility because they believe adding accessibility increases production time and expenditures beyond what they must be. AbleGamers has definitely been making an impact in the accessibility movement; there are definitely large and small signs that we are becoming more important daily.

The most flattering was a twitter sent out by one developer to another developer saying “make sure to look out for AbleGamers at the conference. Accessible gaming is a good way to help advance your career.” At the point where you are beginning to be seen as a career advancer, you know you’re making a difference.

We have also been featured in most every online gaming magazine, Xbox 360 magazine, MSNBC, Apple.com, and many more.

SG: Looking at your crystal ball, is the gaming industry heading in the right direction? Are video and computer games getting more accessible?

SS: Accessibility is increasing in most ways but it is a constant battle. As new gaming systems like Natal, Wii, Tablet gaming, and others continue to become more mobile, games inherently become less accessible. Systems that require physical body movement are not ideal for those with physical impairments and mobile gaming such as iPhones and tablets are difficult for those with limited movement.

When the most advanced system only required two buttons and a directional pad, I could personally play any console game. As could one-handed gamers, most with physical impairments, and even those with very limited movement range.

Now, controllers have six or more buttons, shoulder buttons, and two directional pads. So, the games have advanced but the accessibility falls. The more complicated the controller becomes, the less accessible it is. Computer games are very similar in that every game could be controlled by a mouse 10 years ago and now, some do not use a mouse at all.

On the flipside, you now have things like hacked controllers, mods, assistive technology, and other customizable devices that can aid a disabled gamer with playing certain games. Most of these accessible devices are created by individuals who make these controllers one by one. We hope that someday gaming companies who produce these controllers.

It is my sincere hope that as accessible technology becomes more prevalent and developers learn how many potential customers are out there, video games will become more accessible. There are some wonderful technologies on the horizon. Things like nanos inserted into the body, eye trackers are becoming more accurate and less expensive, voice controlled gaming is becoming faster and more accurate, and many more advancements.

Thanks again to Steve for taking the time to talk about video and computer game accessibility — what’s working, what are the challenges, and where things should be headed.

Sort of like web site accessibility, it’s not about “watering down” the experience. Like Steve said, it’s about options. It’s about putting some extra effort into considering your entire audience.

I go back to a point I made earlier. I love video and computer games. If, tomorrow, I lost my hearing or something happened that limited my motor skills, I’d still love video and computer games. I’d still want to be able to enjoy them as much as possible.

I’m not disabled and I appreciate some accessibility-minded features. For example, because often times I play games at night and don’t want to have the volume jacked up, I turn sub-titles on for just about every game I play.

Dragon Age showed that you can make an all-around outstanding game with plenty of accessibility options. Let’s hope more and more game developers follow suit.

Series Recap:
AbleGamers Interview
AbleGamers Interview wrap-up

More about AbleGamers.com
AbleGamers.com
AbleGamers on Twitter

Tags: ablegamers.com, assistive technology, computer games, remappable keys, subtitles, Video Games

Over the next few blog posts, I’m excited to share an interview I recently conducted over email with Jennison Asuncion. Residing in the Toronto, Canada area, Jennison’s understanding of accessibility, as he’ll explain shortly, comes from the well-rounded position of being involved in both the corporate business world as well as academia. In his own words he also has “first-hand knowledge born from being an end-user who happens to be blind.”

Jennison is also a respected, insightful voice in the social media world, on Twitter and LinkedIn in particular.

Steve (SG): Tell us a little about yourself. What do you do in the field of web accessibility?

Jennison (JA): I’m a big jazz and live comedy fan, a shameless networker, and I enjoy cross-country skiing.

In terms of the field of web accessibility, I work in Toronto for one of Canada’s banks. Part of my role involves consulting with developers so that what they are putting out there is as accessible as it can be to either our employees or clients with disabilities.

Somewhat related, by night, I co-direct the Adaptech Research Network, where we have been conducting research into the use and accessibility of information and communication technologies by college and university students with visible and non-visible disabilities for over ten years. This has helped me build perspective on the wide-range of experiences of end-users with a variety of disabilities who interact with technology which I take into my day-job. I really feel lucky to have a foot in both the corporate accessibility and the academic research areas for that reason.

SG: Why did you take an interest in the subject?

JA: Without wanting to overstate the obvious, the Web is such a part of many of our lives, professionally, recreationally, and personally. This is only set to increase, and at a faster pace. Case in point, look at all of the social media tools out there.

The web has also opened up so many opportunities that might not have been possible say four or five years ago for everyone, but especially for people with disabilities. So, doing my part to assure that this landscape can be made as accessible as possible just feels like the right thing to be doing.

SG: In your experience in the field of web accessibility, what sorts of things about people with disabilities using the Internet have surprised you the most?

JA: How resourceful and willing a good number of users with disabilities are in figuring out ways to make a website work for them, even though it’s not necessarily that accessible to begin with. I’m not saying that’s the ideal situation whatsoever, but, for example, as challenging as, say Facebook can be from an accessibility perspective for some, there are folks with disabilities who have found ways to make features and functionality work for them.

The other thing that doesn’t surprise me, as much as it serves as something I need to always remember, is that there is still a whole group of users with disabilities, who are not tech-savvy and connected through things like Twitter, who may be using older versions of adaptive hardware and/or software who are out there. With little to no formal training, many of them come online to check their e-mail, may do a bit of online browsing, and that’s about it. Or they only use a computer at work, not at home. They know nothing about Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA), and/or may not be able to afford to upgrade their systems.

It’s those people that I worry are being left behind. Left behind, insofar as they may one day visit a website that they’ve known and experienced one way for a long time, but all of a sudden, because of a site upgrade, they discover the user experience of the site has drastically changed. Maybe their browser is no longer supported, or their adaptive technology is not providing them with any useful information at all, rendering the site useless to them. If they cannot upgrade their systems for what ever reason, then what?

I’d like to thank Jennison (something I’m sure I’ll be repeating numerous times over the next week!) for taking the time to share his reflections on accessibility.

Next time, we’ll ask Jennison where he feels accessibility stands right now, and where it’s headed in 2010 and beyond.

Series Recap:
Interview with Jennison Asuncion – part one
Interview with Jennison Asuncion – part two
Interview with Jennison Asuncion – part three and wrap-up

Tags: accessible rich internet applications, Adaptech Research Network, aria, assistive technology, jennison asuncion, Social Media

I’ve been spending the past couple weeks sharing insights from attending both “Multiple Facets of Accessible Design” and a tour of IndependenceFirst. Tonight, I’ll wrap it up with one more post about the various things I learned walking around the facility.

I was really impressed by the extent to which a place like IndependenceFirst goes in making all aspects of their facilities accessible. Some examples didn’t surprise me, like having bathrooms and shower facilities that are fully usable by those with various disabilities, or a cafeteria with accessible appliances. Others were just things I’d have never thought of.

There is an extensive library of assistive technology devices available for use, some I recognized and others that were completely foreign to me. They were several cases with all manner of these devices — keyboards, telephones, calculators, clocks, measuring cups, to just name a few.

IndependenceFirst has a program in which they help people with disabilities get recycled computers. This includes training such as accessing the Internet. We got a glimpse of this Computing Recycling area. There are even local Milwaukee businesses that send volunteers over to get donated computers up and running.

I had never even considered the idea of an accessible copy machine, but we got to see one. Also, in the tour of the Wellness Center, Carol Voss pointed out a wheelchair-accessible weight scale, something that is very rare, even for hospitals.

It’s probably pretty obvious that I came away from visiting IndependenceFirst with a deep appreciation for their services. Four straight blog posts about my experience ought to prove it! After building a rapport with IndependenceFirst through social media, I was glad to finally see the place and meet people like Carol Voss.

I feel I’ve learned a lot in my first year of delving into web accessibility, but I’m coming to realize that there is a huge difference between reading insightful articles and online materials, and actually firsthand watching how disabled people interact with the world around them.

Watching Scott Mayer cruise — and occasionally stumble — through web sites, just trying to do basic tasks like pay bills online, really phased me, in a good way. Even someone who’d like to think of himself as enlightened to web accessibility has a lot to learn!

For me to call myself a true web accessibility expert, I’m going to need more direct contact with disabled web users. You can’t truly understand what they go through by solely checking web sites yourself and running automatic tests.

(Special shout to to friend and colleague Michael Seidel for sharing the photos of the assistive equipment and the computer refurbishing room)

Tags: assistive technology, disability, IndependenceFIRST, milwauCHI, milwaukee

In my last post, I began sharing many thoughts about my visit to IndependenceFirst on Monday, to attend “Multiple Facets of Accessible Design.” It was an excellent presentation facilitated by MilwauCHI.

I rambled so excitedly in my coverage of Shawn Henry’s presentation that I needed to split things up into multiple blog posts to do them justice.

The second presenter was Scott Mayer from American Family Insurance, a usability services specialist who became blind at the age of 24.

He led off with some interesting statistics about disabled people in the United States:

Scott then demonstrated how he uses the Internet via his JAWS screen reader. I’ve got to tell you, that was one of the most revealing experiences I’ve had since focusing on accessibility.

I’ve been tackling the subject in my own incremental way, and while I’ve watched a video here and there demonstrating screen readers, there was something completely different about seeing one in action.

Scott showed examples of good and bad accessibility using his screen reader. On one site, he showed how he was unable to pay a bill on a banking site because the actionable button for signing on was invisible to the screen reader.

Another interesting point – Scott talked about how many sites, particularly in the financial sector, tend to go through redesigns often. Some financial sites do it almost quarterly. While constant evolution and enhancement may seem like an all-around great idea, somebody like Scott has to completely re-learn how to get around that site each time they retool it.

Scott explained how automated accessibility testing is not enough. There is no replacement for usability testing with disabled users.

People tend to treat disabled consumers like Scott differently, thinking them to be less educated or poorer. He shared an experience in which he and his wife took their car in for repairs, and how the attendants didn’t even consider for a moment that a blind user may know something about car repairs. They barely acknowledged him.

Physical stores tend to be useless to somebody like Scott. He frequently utilizes the Internet to buy things and have them shipped to his home.

Just because somebody is blind, or deaf, or has some sort of disability, don’t assume they are less intelligent or some poor, destitute person. It may be easy for some businesses to dismiss what they assume is an insignificant minority of potential visitors to their web site, but there is an awful lot of ignorance steeped in that attitude.

And I haven’t even gotten to my first tour of IndependenceFirst! We’ll save that for next week’s posts!

Tags: assistive technology, IndependenceFIRST, jaws, milwauCHI, milwaukee, Scott Mayer, visually impaired

Last night, I was privileged to attend the great “Multiple Facets of Accessible Design” presentation conducted by MilwauCHI and hosted by IndependenceFirst (a place so amazing that I’ll be doing upcoming blog posts about the experience)

After a great introduction to the IndependenceFirst facility by Carol Voss, including a 5 minute video about their new building, we were treated with two very different but equally compelling presentations.

The first was “Unleashing Opportunities through Accessibility” from Shawn Henry. Shawn Henry needs no introduction in the web accessibility ranks, as the Outreach Coordinator of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and an all-around advocate and voice for accessibility awareness. She is also the author of Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design.

Shawn covered a lot of ground. She explained that accessibility doesn’t just pertain to those with visual disabilities — there are many more to varying degrees. There are also other “limitations”, such as technology, bandwidth, literacy, non-fluency in a certain language, etc.

She raised a point that has really been hitting home with me lately, as I discussed in my last post. There are easy things to do to improve the accessibility of a site. Sure, complexity increases when you deal with rich applications, Flash, and more complicated scripting, but many important obstacles can be cleared on the simple markup level — alt tags, page titles, headings, lists, to name just a few.

Shawn summed up accessibility poignantly by calling it, “an act of enlightened self-interest.” After all, any one of us may at any point become a disabled web user, through accident, illness, or just through the aging process.

We had the pleasure of chatting with Shawn further after the event. She is very down-to-earth and clearly passionate about accessibility. She gave us some very good advice and tactics on pursuading organizations to see both the business needs and obligations of ensuring their web presence is usable by all.

The second speaker was downright amazing. His name is Scott Mayer, a usability services specialist for American Family Insurance, who became blind at the age of 24. In my next post, later this week, I’ll share highlights from his powerful presentation.

Related Links:

• IndependenceFirst (@Independence1st on Twitter)
• MilwauCHI
• Shawn Henry (@shawn_slh on Twitter)
• Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design – online version

Tags: alt tags, assistive technology, IndependenceFIRST, milwauCHI, milwaukee, Scott Mayer, screen readers, shawn henry, W3C, wai, wai-aria