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Highlights of Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2020

Some of the ways the industry embraced this year's GAAD event

Ian Hamilton, Blogger

May 22, 2020

3 Min Read
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Global Accessibility Awareness Day is event that takes place on the third Thursday of every May, with the goal of raising awareness about digital accessibility. Every successive year the games industry has been embracing it to ever greater levels.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day, May 21st, 2020

2020 was no exception, even despite the usual in-person events not being possible this year. Some of the efforts are not public knowledge, companies holding private internal initiatives, individuals sending emails around their teams, and so on. But many are public knowledge, here's a list of some of the lovely things that I saw taking place over the day - 

AbleGamers

Twitch stream with the AG staff to come say hi and learn about the mission
https://twitter.com/AbleGamers/status/1263513821072809992

Accessibility Unlocked

AccessJam, a week long accessibility & representation themed game jam
https://www.twitter.com/accessunlockanz/status/1262220709511565312

Accessible Streamers

Twitch raid train with prizes, fun and games
https://twitter.com/a11ystreaming/status/1262492303723319298

Améliane Chiasson

Accessibilibuddies post-GAAD unwind
https://mobile.twitter.com/AmelianeFC/status/1262864301653663744

Be Player One

Survey on the habits and expectations of disabled gamers
https://twitter.com/be_player_1/status/1263499399197581316

Can I Play That?

New YouTube channel launched with an inaugural video by Cherry Thompson
https://mobile.twitter.com/CanIPlayThat/status/1263469528828317703

Website accessibility upgrades
https://twitter.com/CanIPlayThat/status/1263482835618447360

Cherry Thompson

A lengthy video analysis of issues facing accessibility in the games industry
https://twitter.com/cherryrae/status/1263529112854884352

CNET

Showcase piece on disabled veterans, Warfighter Engaged and the Xbox Adaptive Controller
https://www.cnet.com/news/veterans-who-lost-limbs-learn-to-game-again-with-adaptive-controllers/

Crayta

Video interview with Kirsty McNaught, giving an overview of how she helped to built Crayta with accessibility in mind
https://twitter.com/CraytaGame/status/1263484696710705159

DAGERsystem

PS4 Pro accessibility giveaway
https://twitter.com/DAGERSYSTEM/status/1262881212378611714

Dualshockers

Interview with David Tisserand about Ubisoft is making accessibility part of the company's DNA
https://www.dualshockers.com/ubisoft-accessibility-features-games-exclusive/

Eidos / Square Enix

A week of activities including virtual talks from Cherry Thompson, SightlessKombat and Ian Hamilton
https://mobile.twitter.com/AmelianeFC/status/1262810593565847552

Article on SE's ongoing commitment to accessibility, what has been done so far and a callout for feedback for the future including launching an accessibility feedback form
https://twitter.com/SquareEnix/status/1263545300615979009

Frozenbyte

Post on how they are making their games better in terms of accessibility, and a call out to hear from players about their experiences
https://www.frozenbyte.com/2020/05/global-accessibility-awareness-day/

Ian Hamilton

Sharing some less well known facts through 20 question of accessibility trivia
https://forms.gle/uPEaZYZ4WchgQEtx7

IGDA-GASIG

A set of posters for use in studios centred around design challenges, backed up by gamer quotes, high level guidance, and data
https://twitter.com/ianhamilton_/status/1263632409255391232

Preview of some research material on key moments in game accessibility history from 1950 to 2019, due to appear in a few different projects in the future
https://twitter.com/ianhamilton_/status/1263642640274337794

Institute of Coding

Video piece on how to open the world of gaming to everyone, with Stacey Rebecca, Mick Donegan and Frankie Ward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfp8mdCjRkk

GAconf

Video compilation of past speakers' takes on what accessibility means to them
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjZCmHKNgGE

All talks from GAconf EU now freely available online
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk1amg9GbQw&list=PLVEo4bPIUOslGkRId3eWyWH2o_EICUprW

Game & Give

Mixer fundaraiser for AbleGamers
https://twitter.com/GoTeamGG/status/1263530058011955200

Illegallysighted

Showcase video of full text to speech in Age of Empires 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHqQT7sNnxw

King

Callout for accessibility feedback on Candy Crush Saga
https://community.king.com/en/candy-crush-friends-saga/discussion/294902/help-us-improve-accessibility-for-players-in-candy-crush-friends-saga

Liam Mason

Showcasing a hand movement controlled mobile game, with a call out for feedback from wheelchair users
https://twitter.com/LeelooMason/status/1263424664883343361

Logitech G

SpecialEffect showcase video
https://www.twitter.com/LogitechG/status/1262865710063259650

Game Changers podcast with Andrew Bromilow and Ian Hamilton
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/changing-perceptions-how-do-we-make-gaming-more-accessible/id1506765808?i=1000475047173

Creator spotlight video with Steve Saylor
https://mobile.twitter.com/stevesaylor/status/1263169145903947777

Marcus Skrov

Colour blindness UI tips thread
https://mobile.twitter.com/MarcusSkov/status/1263428457943498752

Microsoft

Compilation thread of some great moments from over the history of the Inclusive Tech Lab
https://twitter.com/IncTechLab/status/1263504186584391680

Special Olympics virtual event announced
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/05/21/announcing-2020-special-olympics-xbox-virtual-gaming-event/

Xbox Ambassadors article on the work by SightlessKombat and others to develop a fully blind accessible Halo map
https://twitter.com/XboxAmbassadors/status/1263561047501201408

Mixer

Featuring streamers with disabilities throughout the day
https://twitter.com/LadieAuPair/status/1263503424357715970

nohandsnoexcuses

Building a gaming PC without fingers
https://twitter.com/nohandsnoexcuse/status/1263210873394327552

Onehandmostly

Why accessibility is important to me video
https://twitter.com/onehandmostly/status/1263530169236586496

Paul Amadeus Lane

Video interviews with a stellar lineup of game accessibility folk
https://twitter.com/Amadeus2k/status/1263219606488903680

PlayStation

Yuichi Haga announced as lead of Sony's accessibility employee group
https://twitter.com/InstallBase/status/1263486888326778881

t12t

Talk by Bryce Johnson on the Xbox Adaptive Controller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJi0lqpHqZw&feature=youtu.be&t=5387

Twitch

Full day homepage takoever to showcase disabled streamers
https://blog.twitch.tv/en/2020/05/19/celebrate-accessibility-for-all-on-twitch/

Ubisoft

Showcase of blind accessibility initiatives, with Brandon Cole and David Tisserand
https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/4hE1D1MBWWssYuY7LaMmaS/learning-to-design-games-for-blind-players

Next year is the 10th anniversary of GAAD, set for May 20th!

Republished from ian-hamilton.com/blog

 

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