“It's definitely a long road because accessibility is not an easy thing to do.”
BRANDON COLE ACCESSIBILITY CONSULTANT, AQUENT GAMES
A safer, more accessible and representative gaming industry must become the standard in 2022. A recent CNET article tells how a community of gamers is working to address issues such as sexism, racism, discrimination, and stereotypes within the industry. While addressing these issues, they're redefining the industry and what it means to be a gamer. Aquent Games's, Brandon Cole is one of these people. He works to make games more accessible to the vision impaired. Cole always loved video games, but being completely blind meant that, instead of playing for himself, he spent more time listening to others play. Now, he works with game companies like Naughty Dog ( maker of “The Last of Us” and “Uncharted”) to build features that make it easier for people with vision, hearing, and fine-motor-skill disabilities to play. Cole sees promise in the future of gaming accessibility and cites higher-accessibility conference attendance, as well as more accessibility panels and segments in mainstream gaming conferences.
This article originally appeared on CNET.