From
The Globe & Mail in Toronto, Canada
. In the picture, Mark Barlet, President of the AbleGamers Foundation, right, started the
foundation in 2005 after seeing how difficult, expensive and frustrating
it can be to experience the pleasures that many gamers take for
granted. “These are real-life things for us.”
Disabled Canadians gamers are finally getting a chance to
try-before-they-buy with the opening of the Accessibility Arcade at the
University of Toronto starting April 26.
Housed in the Semaphore
Research Cluster at the university’s Robarts Library, the Arcade will
showcase the latest technology and controllers that allow people with
disabilities to play popular console and PC games such as Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed. After this weekend’s public open house, the permanent installation will be accessible by appointment.
“This is a testament to the university’s commitment to people with
disabilities in Canada,” says Mark Barlet, founder of the AbleGamers
Foundation, the West Virginia-based charity behind the Arcade.
Custom-made
controllers for gamers with such disabilities as cerebral palsy or
multiple sclerosis are expensive, often running between $400 and $900.
Mr. Barlet says he has received many e-mails from people who have bought
the controllers, only to find that they don’t fit their specific needs.
“Our
biggest fear as an organization was that someone would see a video on
the web, drop all that money and then get it in their house and not be
able to use it,” he says. “Being disabled is kind of expensive and many
people are on fixed incomes, so these are luxury goods.”
At the
Arcade, specially trained staff will assess individual gamers’ needs and
advise them on the best equipment to buy, which can also include
special software for sensory issues.
Mr. Barlet’s backgound fuels
his mission: He is an avid gamer, a disabled war vet and has a sister
with MS. He started AbleGamers in 2005 after seeing how difficult,
expensive and frustrating it can be to experience the pleasures that
many gamers take for granted. “These are real-life things for us.”
The
first Accessibility Arcade opened in 2012 at the Martin Luther King Jr.
public library in Washington, D.C., with the new Toronto installation
the first one outside the United States.
AbleGamers estimates
about one in five American gamers, or about 65 million, have some sort
of disability, with a similar ratio likely in Canada.
The organization favours Xbox and PC games because those platforms tend to work better with accessibility technology.
“PlayStation
had a tendency in the past to break accessible controllers through
software upgrades,” Mr. Barlet says. “Until we can get some sort of
agreement from PlayStation to stop doing that, we don’t recommend
bringing them into a more public space because you’re just asking for
frustration, unfortunately.”
