Resources

Accessibility Researchers & Consultants

AbleGamers Player Panels

AbleGamers Player Panels is a community of players with disabilities who are connected with game companies and other organizations to test games and participate in research and development.

The Accessibility User Research Collective

The Shepherd Center and Microsoft formed the Accessibility User Research Collective (AURC) to engage people with disabilities to help improve the accessibility and usability Microsoft products.

SightlessKombat

SightlessKombat is a consultant for blind accessibility in games. He wrote about this topic for his fellowship with the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and has spoken at international and internal conferences.

Brandon Cole

Brandon Cole seeks to bridge the understanding of accessibility between developers and gamers alike through his consultancy work, blog, game streaming, and conference speeches.

Jesse Anderson

Jesse Anderson is a technology and game accessibility consultant. He focuses on game accessibility for PC, console, VR and iOS games – as well as VR hardware and iOS apps – for blind and low vision users.

Steve Saylor

Steve Saylor is a blind video gamer with a passion for creating great content and consulting with developers to improve accessibility for disabled users.

Presentations

Game Accessibility Conference

Playing Mainstream Video Games Without Sight by SightlessKombat
I Made My Game Blind Accessible – You Won’t Believe What Happened Next… by Michelle Martin
Gaming Without Sight: We Wanna Play Too by Brandon Cole
Breaking the Sound Barrier: How Game Audio Can Improve Accessibility by Adriane Kuzminski

Game Developers Conference

Game Accessibility: Practical Visual Fixes from EA’s Madden NFL Franchise by Karen Stevens
Audio-Driven Game Design by Per Anders Östblad and Henrik Engstrom
Overwatch – The Elusive Goal: Play by Sound by Scott Lawlor and Tomas Neumann
No More Excuses, Your Guide to Accessible Design by Tara Voelker
Building a Manifesto for Game Accessibility by Thomas Westin, Ian Hamilton, Tara Voelker, and Richard van Tol

Other Conferences

Let’s Talk about Blind Accessibility – Adriane Kuzminski @ NYCGA April ’19
Audio in Accessible Gaming – Drew Becker @ AudioBash Summer ’18
Interacting with Sound: Creating Accessible, Engaging Gameplay – Adriane Kuzminski @ MIGS ’19
Gaming Without Aiming – Liam Erven @ Gamer Grace ’17
Killer Instinct – A Postmortem on Accessibility – Zachary Quarles @ Casual Connect USA ’17
UI Sound Design: The Small Sounds That Make A Big Difference
– Henry Daw @ TNW Conference ’17
Audio in Overwatch – Scott Lawlor and Tomas Neumann @ Wwise Tour ’16
Designing for Gamers with Disabilities – Ian Hamilton @ PG Connects ’15

Blind Streamers