Game Changers: Inside The Epic Quest to Make Gaming More Accessible
Like many young men, Jean Molla plays a wide range of video games. He enjoys popular shooters like Fortnite, he’s an avid Minecraft player, and he’s especially excited about Diablo IV—mostly because it can be played with one hand. You see, Jean has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Because of this, he can’t play games with a typical controller. But with the help of voice commands and software, Jean can play games he never even thought he could before.
On his YouTube channel, Wheelchair Guy, Jean posts accessible game guides that feature him playing a wide range of games using just a mouse and his voice. These include the notoriously difficult Elden Ring, fast-paced shooters such as Fortnite, and the multiplayer party game Fall Guys.
Jean is just one of 46 million disabled gamers, according to Steven Spohn of AbleGamers, one of the most well known nonprofit organizations for the disabled gaming community. That’s about 26% of all gamers in the United States. But despite its 50 years of existence, the billion-dollar video game industry has only just started to make accessible tech accessible to those who need it.
In the early days of the video game industry, accessible tech was hard to find. The first notable piece of mainstream accessible technology was Nintendo’s hands-free controller for the Nintendo Entertainment System. You wore it like a vest and used your mouth to control the A and B buttons. The controller was sold exclusively through Nintendo’s customer service number—but it sold for years.
Although other forms of media began to become more inclusive, expanding accessible offerings with features such as closed captioning and audio
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