AbleGamers Charity, is nonprofit public charity that aims to improve the overall quality of life for those with disabilities through the power of video.

AbleGamers Charity, is nonprofit public charity that aims to improve the overall quality of life for those with disabilities through the power of video games. Video games allow individuals with disabilities to experience

situations that may be difficult or limited in the real world, provide social networking opportunities to maintain mental and emotional health, and participate in one of the world’s largest pastimes.

Digital outcasts: moving technology

forward without leaving people

behind by:

Kel Smith

This is a story about how a product is

developed for a small market...

What I liked most about this book is that the author identifies the benefits in gaming for people with disabilities; Kel Smith explores games in which studies have shown to be beneficial for people with certain

types of disabilities and how they can be used to help in rehabilitation therapy and used as a tool to educate in the classroom.

However he also identifies the risks associated with reliance on digital gaming / technology; in that it cannot be used to replace but rather augment learning

One of the areas of concern however, is in regards to financial barriers; many of the studies in this book have shown the benefits of gaming for people with disabilities; however the device / console or game is usually

customized / modified for the individual.

The author states that this is the most effective method for rehabilitation. Smith however understands that this can become very costly. While Smith states that gaming / technology is greatly influenced by people with disabilities, there is still a long way to go to making digital learning / the digital world accessible for people

with disabilities.

Before reviewing aspects of the book to support my above statements, it is imperative to first define disability and accessibility as defined by the author; as well as outline the three main groups referred to throughout the

book

Accessibility is the practice of accommodating multiple abilities, by making products and services easier to use for more people

in more situations. (Smith 2013)

Product designers, content providers, and the companies who support these teams approach accessibility as an add-on….they

consider the disabled sector a "lowest common denominator" when it comes to product design, and they are unaware of the universal benefit their solutions could potentially bring to a wider audience.

(Smith 2013)

The concept of universal design is also explored in this book; which involves producing buildings, products and environments that are accessible to older people, people without disabilities, and people

with disabilities – essentially beneficial to all rather than focusing on what could be beneficial to a specific group (Smith 2013)

At the simplest level, games tap into the part of the brain that controls sensory integration and decision making. Our brains have a natural, nagging desire to unlock order from disorder. It's the

same behavior that forces a gamer to stay up well past her bedtime, fully believing that she'll go to sleep once she achieves that final level. It's what makes a simple iPad game such as Angry Birds so

addictive, and why players with otherwise introverted personalities thrive in the online company of other gamers—they are part of a social tribe. (Smith 2013)

Digital Natives Digital Immigrants Digital Outcasts

Never known a world in which the Internet didn't exist

Framed by the attribute of persistent compensation

covers both age groups and yet remains distinct in their approach to technology

Expect technology to operate ubiquitously and symbiotically with their everyday lives

Constantly adapt their mental model to new forms of engagement

This is a group for whom technology is an enabler, allowing for connections and opportunities that otherwise may not exist

Consider email to be archaic; the instant text message is their preferred mode of communication

Every new device or software platform is an opportunity to "level up" into a new cognitive phase… yet, they still retain some thread to a past behavior

Yet, their ability to access these opportunities is compromised by attributes they cannot change

Ability to process multiple strains of information in a single stream

Recognizable by the verbal references they make to antiquated technology: "taping a show," "dialing the phone," or "making a mixtape”

Every day reveals something new in the digital world that may be customized for an audience segment

Consistently blur the boundaries between what's real and what's virtual

Some digital immigrants are highly proficient, almost to the level of a digital native

If not for the efforts of the digital outcasts, many wonderful products currently in the market would not exist. Whether or not digital outcasts are aware of it, they having an impact on the commercial marketplace

Expect technology services to keep up with their endlessly shifting priorities

Others bemoan having to learn a new system after they've finally become comfortable with a newly archived version

This innovation is influencing the market landscape that, at some point in time, has neglected their fundamental needs and desires

Medical Model Government Model Moral Model Cultural Model

Think of disability as a defect or illness requiring intervention

May view disability as a lack of function pertaining to a given job task

May associate disability with shame, guilt, pride, feelings of inadequacy ("I'm not good enough")

May regard disability according to the individual condition of the person

Sometimes in the form of rehabilitative therapy, which regards disability as something to be repaired

Or as a means to protect the rights of individuals in a court of law

Or empowerment ("nothing is going to hold me back")

Or the environment in which she resides, and the group(s) with which she associates

Defining Disability

And that is our challenge with defining ability—we have a cultural habit of categorizing what is and isn't a disability according to our perceptions. We imagine "the disabled" at one end of a spectrum, and those

who are physically or mentally capable on the other. The distinctions appear to be very clear: people can see or they can't. They use a wheelchair or they can walk assisted. (Smith 2013)

Biology does not work this way, however. We forget that there are social constructs within the continuum of gray that hide people with abilities of all kinds, even those we cannot detect on first

glance: the man with a cochlear implant, the woman with a restricted diet due to surgery or medication, or the mildly autistic child who responds well to treatment. (Smith 2013)

Therefore, these views narrows the complexity of disability to limitations and restrictions, with implications of whether "flawed" people can be educated or productive in society.

In recent years, a growing number of designers and developers have embraced Internet standards for the creation of accessible content. And yet, there is still a distance to be traveled when it comes to full digital

accommodation across all barriers to access. (Smith 2013)

So much technological innovation is being spawned from the disability sector (Smith 2013)

It's an extraordinary time for designers to recognize the full breadth and depth of adaptive experiences currently on display in today's world. (Smith 2013)

In 2010, doctors at St. Michael's Hospital in the University of Toronto made an intriguing discovery. Dr. Gustavo Saposnik, director of the Stroke Outcomes Research Unit, installed a device in the hospital called a Wii—an electronic game console for playing virtual sports and video games. He then tested

the use of the game on 20 patients recovering from stroke; half of the patients with an average age of 61 underwent eight 60-minute sessions on the Wii, the other half did not. After 2 weeks, patients using

the Wii reported a 30% improvement in motor skill efficiency over the group using conventional methods.

Today, physical therapists have adapted the Wii to treat a variety of conditions. The device has been used to assess dynamic balance, create visual stimulation, improve hand/eye coordination, and strengthen

range of motion.

Smith states that gaming devices are playing an important part in the monitoring of health outcomes, providing timely response to a patient's actions and showing evidence during lack

of action. Dr. Saposnik described his use of the Wii gaming platform as "doable, safe and more effective than routine therapy," an interaction model that can be translated across a

number of disability-related therapeutic areas. It's possible that the discoveries of Dr. Saposnik and other researchers may provide a way to translate the challenges of our "high-tech, low-touch society" into a self-organized and participatory solution for digital outcasts.

When video games first appeared in the late 1970s, it's doubtful that anyone envisioned the widespread effect that games have had on today's world. Most people who were in their teens during the early 1980s

may recall Pong, a minimalist quasi-tennis experience consisting of two straight lines and a dot. (Smith 2013)

For parents, the arrival of arcade games meant there was now one more distraction preventing their kids from doing their homework or playing outside. Pac-Man's cultural explosion in the obscures the fact that the

game's interaction principles really hadn't changed that much; the degree of success was still bound to a player's ability to execute simple tasks. If you created an electronic setting where a player could move in at

least four directions, acquire goods to achieve increasing point totals, and expire the player when he exhausts his supply of chances … you had essentially developed a game. (Smith 2013)

Fast-forward 30 years. Over time, graphics technology has improved and resulted in a more immersive experience with genuinely human responses—storylines for today's games are so complex that they warrant

sequels. As a result, video games (and, by extension, the adoption of multiplayer digital environments called virtual worlds) have emerged as fertile territories for academic research. (Smith 2013)

For most systems, playing video games means pushing many buttons to move, jump, grab, catch, and throw. From a standpoint of pure accessibility, it would appear that gaming

interfaces and virtual worlds have little to offer to people with disabilities. (Smith 2013)

The experience is largely visual in nature, the user interfaces require extensive hand/eye coordination, and the environments rely on

nonpersistent reminders to deliver information. For users who are unaccustomed to this level

of multitasking, or lack the ability, closely integrating social literacy with playing habits

appears to be a reach. (Smith 2013)

Gaming and Disability

New gaming technologies are providing input designers an opportunity to explore different

forms of interaction with digital objects. These uses are increasingly being adopted as ways

to help people with disabilities take care of themselves and acclimate to the world around

them. A number of game scenarios explore rehabilitation for people with physical

disabilities, as well as those recovering from an emotional trauma. (Smith 2013)

However, Rubenstein and Hersh once wrote, "In the absence of detailed information we all work from assumptions … we tend to design for ourselves, not for other people." We seek to understand

behavior and apply it to quantitative metrics in order to support or refute our original hypotheses. At times, though, human nature takes over and we adhere to prejudice as our starting point. (Smith

2013)

Gaming and Disability

Therefore, our assumptions which are based on imbedded stereotypes impact the design process. While an idea may start with good intentions, personal beliefs alter the intended outcome. Its is

therefore easier to revert back to familiar ideas then delve into the unfamiliar.

Interacting with games requires some means of input, which is commonly a physical controller equipped with buttons and joysticks to maneuver and control game objects. In the

fall of 2010, Microsoft did away with controllers altogether by releasing a gaming system called the Kinect. The Kinect was the first consumer-based interface platform where all physical barriers to entry were finally removed—no mouse, no keyboard, no controller—

letting players activate the system by standing in front of the screen and moving their bodies. With the physical layer all but removed, this higher level of engagement rendered the "interface" between people and computers more diffuse. As a result, we now live in a

world where a video game object can be controlled by simply walking past it. (Smith 2013)

Kinesthetic games

Kinesthetic games are especially effective on kids with autism

because they can improve motor skills, and interacting with others in

an environment can help them focus on tasks within a social

setting. The Kinect experience not only helps kids identify their bodies

in relation to the surrounding environment, it also motivates them to become acquainted with taking turns and simple problem solving (such as asking for permission to turn the system on). (Smith 2013)

Evidence shows that virtual reality training may help improve complex social attention skills in school-aged

children with higher-functioning autism, according to the American

Psychiatric Association. A pilot program took 18 children with autism and fitted them with head-mounted controls. The displays showed an

image of a virtual peer in the form of an avatar. The children were then asked to speak to the virtual peer,

who faded away if ignored and came back when addressed. Results of the "fade conditioning" exercise indicated

that social attention was able to be manipulated by tuning the response.

Virtual reality (VR) allows people with physical or cognitive barriers the

ability to engage by transcending their limitations. (Smith 2013)

Virtual Reality Virtual worlds are 3D immersive environments accessed through

a computer. Game players are confronted with obstacles intentionally built into the software, while users of virtual worlds seek to achieve self-directed goals through engagement and

collaboration. Virtual worlds are populated by avatars, which can assume nearly any shape and operate as points of reference for

the personal experience. (Smith 2013)

To fully understand virtual worlds, it is important to recognize that people who take part in them can fall into any of three categories: augmentationists, immersionists, or experimentalists. All have

applications of relevance to digital outcasts.

One of the key benefits of virtual therapy is the ability it affords to offer simulation exercises. The Sacramento Mental Health Center in Second Life once provided an authentic representation of a

schizophrenic episode. With visual hallucinations and subliminal voices providing an accurate depiction

Augmentationists Immersionists Experimentalists

View virtual worlds as a means to enhance their real-life existence

People who view virtual worlds as an alternative parallel to their real-life existence

Consider virtual worlds to be a controlled laboratory to observe or modify behavior

Personalize their virtual identities to closely resemble their real lives

Keep their real-life identities separate from that of their avatars; sometimes augment their real-life experience as a form of therapy

Such as a college instructor teaching a class from a remote location; counselors who work with patients dealing with substance abuse or emotional problems

A team of scientists in Texas called Waterloo Labs developed a way for quadriplegics to play video games, using the Mario Eye Controller, by manipulating the field of electrode activity that surrounds a

human eye. As sight direction changes, so too does the field around the eye. These signals are passed to a data controller that interfaces with a Nintendo game console, which filters and amplifies each eye movement to precisely control some action within the game. This unique form of eye-tracking provides

interaction possibilities without requiring any bodily movement at all (Smith 2013)

Teachers are very careful to describe the use of iPad apps as "assistive technology," noting that a device cannot replace teaching

in classrooms by dedicated professionals. Rather, the use of apps reinforces lessons taught in

the classroom while removing some of the social stigma associated with bulky AAC

devices. (Smith 2013)

The risk with any consumer device or system is that it will be used

excessively as stimulation rather than for learning or reinforcing. Screen-based technology has the ability to activate a wide range of senses,

especially for multitouch interfaces controlled through speech or gestures.

For children on the spectrum, it's important to distinguish between a stimulation device operating as a

"babysitter" and a developmental tool with clearly defined benchmarks.

(Smith 2013)

Our enduring concept of play—such as the spontaneity and resourcefulness exhibited by children, when their imagination is set free—does not depend on the vehicle

through which the experience is delivered.

Technology may provide a meaningful context for these activities or it may operate as an engagement tool where other methods have failed, but it just that—a tool.

Technology is no more a miracle for children with autism than the parents, teachers, and therapists who devote their lives in service.

The miracle is performed when the tap of an icon is the result of a connection made between instructor and student.

The iPad alone can't let a parent know that her son needs to go to the bathroom, but modifying behavior consistently through the use of the tool can help reduce the

obstacles to a successful outcome.

As with companies who wish to pursue innovation in their respective markets, the key is to focus on behavior, not the device.

(Smith 2013)

The intention of universal design is to flatten that imbalance. Architects of public spaces, who have long demonstrated the importance of designing for people of all abilities, employ a design methodology that could one day be applied to emerging

technology products.

What works well for people with challenges will result in widespread benefit to all individuals. "Up to this point, the disabled community has really been seen as a small market,“…That's going to change. Things made for us will benefit other

people.“ (Smith 2013)

Integrating accessibility as part of the product design process begins with solid strategy – which involves developing accessible online content, ensuring that

aesthetic creativity is equitable and welcoming to users of all abilities

The primary key is not to treat accessibility as an "add on," but rather a significant component of the project scope. Many project teams acknowledge the importance

of designing for all users, yet are uncertain where or how to begin.(Smith 2013)

Universal Design

Our interpretation of ability can sometimes be tainted with inaccuracies and broad assumptions. Sometimes we pity (or worse, we patronize) the families

who are affected. Other times we compartmentalize people with disabilities into predefined categories. Although this is an understandably natural tendency for people without disabilities, it does create challenges that must be confronted

internally when designing for digital outcasts.

We cannot fine-tune product design according to a flawed sense of judgment. Failing to recognize that stereotypes exist, and how they affect our attitudes, results in an uncomfortable dichotomy. For inclusive design to be successful,

overcoming these assumptions is a necessary first part of the research process. For people with disabilities, battling the digital outcast stereotype can

sometimes be a greater challenge than the disability itself. (Smith 2013)