It’s October, which means the leaves turn lovely colours, there’s that pre-winter chill in the air, and disabled gaming charity AbleGamers is doing its #Unlocktober fundraising drive.
For this month, the goal is simple: help Ablegamers raise one million dollars over the next four weeks and change. A non-profit founded in 2004, the organisation has helped countless people with all sorts of disabilities and conditions to play games, pushing boundaries for accessibility, and inclusivity, in the games industry. Obviously this isn’t a cheap endevour by any stretch, hence efforts like this to generate a bit of outreach and collaboration.
“There are millions of people with disabilities who can’t play videogames without expensive, specialized equipment. The AbleGamers Charity helps gamers with disabilities by providing that equipment, free of charge,” reads a statement on Tiltify. “But we can’t do it without YOU. Help us help others: a day of gaming for you could mean a lifetime of gaming for someone else!” You can join using the aforementioned Tiltify link, and here’s a bunch of tips on how to set up your first charity stream. Obviously, whatever games you want to stream are good, whether they be new games or old games, but for the month that’s in it, horror games, zombie games, and even Halloween games, would be especially appropriate.
Thankfully, accessibility is becoming a wider concern in the industry, publishers and developers improving the in-game features and releasing them up-front so disabled players know what they’re getting into. Companies are making adaptive gaming kits for controllers, spurred on by Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive Controller, a standard-setting piece of hardware.
You can support our efforts of Unlocking Opportunities and Enabling Play for People with Disabilities by fundraising with your community during our #Unlocktober fundraising push this October!
Sign up at:https://t.co/vAf66o5po8
— AbleGamers Charity (@AbleGamers) September 23, 2020
In other ventures, AbleGamers also helped set up a database for disabled players to send feedback to developers on what needs changing, to help the discussion remain open, honest, and forward-thinking. Once again, you can find the link for #Unlocktober here, and you can make a one-off donation here.