How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy

https://www.openassistivetech.org/how-i-actually-play-video-games-with-sma-the-tools-i-use-every-day/

by dannyobrien • 1 month ago

175 20 1 month ago

openassistivetech.org

blinkbat• 1 month ago

King shit.

DilutedCoke• 1 month ago

[flagged]

Boom890• 1 month ago

Glad he gets to do so.

dbg31415• 1 month ago

This is great!

Years ago, a buddy of mine was in a car accident and broke his arm. He was then banned for using keyboard remapping software so he could keep playing one-handed. It always bothered me that some game companies treated any modification as cheating, regardless of why it was being used.

I’ve always wondered how developers balance anti-cheat systems with accessibility. Sometimes the same tools can be used for both. It’s encouraging to see companies giving players more flexibility and recognizing that not everyone interacts with games the same way.

Gaming should be about skill and creativity, not whether your body happens to fit the default input scheme.

senectus1• 1 month ago

this sort of digital accessibility fascinates me. I'd love to get into working in that field.

password4321• 1 month ago

There are several Twitch streamers with similar setups.

It's discouraging when they haven't streamed for a while like NoHandsKen, though I'm surprised to not find any evidence of a couple streams 3-6 months ago.

throwaway2037• 1 month ago

Insanely cool blog post. I had no idea about the XBox Adaptive Controller: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/accessories/controllers/xbox-adap...

I am surprised that we have not seen some sick setups shared on HN.

Agentlien• 1 month ago

When I saw the title I immediately thought of Xbox Adaptive Controller. It's such a cool initiative.

Microsoft has a lot of really cool accessibility tools and services. For example their extensive usability guidelines, which is a massive set of documentation for how to make games more widely accessible. [0]

They also have a great service where you can submit your games to get a report with feedback how to improve accessibility.[1] I read through one we got at my last job and it was really impressive. Very thoughtful and comprehensive.

There's a hub with links to a lot more accessibility services as well. [2] Microsoft is one of the companies which really does a lot of great things in this space.

[0] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/accessibility/guide...

[1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/accessibility/mgats

[2] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/accessibility/acces...

cobbzilla• 1 month ago

It’s so amazing how far assistive technology has come!

This is a fantastic article but I wish he would have included some wish list or constructive criticism, clearly there are areas of improvement!

But to discern an ask from his writings: At the end he mentions the complexities of working so many different purpose-specific tools— is this perhaps the next area of progress, tool integration and a cohesive experience?

Joel_Mckay• 1 month ago

There were FOSS Tongue-driven and Air-switch (Puff/Blow Morse codes) wheelchair control interfaces with generic USB HID mouse/keyboard emulation. They also have normal pointer interface modes with desktop and tablet OS (no janky software required.)

The projects were necessitated because costs of medical-device regulatory barriers made hardware iterations economically infeasible to mass-manufacture. There were a few university faculties that would show up at community events to demonstrate DIY kits folks could put together with a friend.

If these projects are no longer available, send up a flag and someone will spend a few weekends to bring up more open-hardware options. One can't legally sell these as a medical-device in most places, but there is likely nothing stopping a low-power hobby "game control" kit. =3

DigiEggz• 1 month ago

It's really great to see paths forward despite extreme difficulties. My late friend would have been interested in all of these setups, especially the facial tracking. Thank you for sharing this.

Firehawke• 1 month ago

It occurs to me that some of this could be really useful to implement into SteamInput for players with disabilities. Someone really needs to show this article to Valve.

shakna• 1 month ago

Valve is also part of the Accessible Gaming Initiative, along with Microsoft and others.

And Steam does already support the Xbox Adaptive Controller, along with a huge amount of control overlays, and if that isn't enough - SteamInput can be disabled for raw HID mode and then you can interface with any 3rd party app, like in the article.

Their virtual menus are a godsend for building your own control systems - I've used one with eyetracking software to play Counter Strike.

PetitPrince• 1 month ago

That's cool !

Kind reminder that you can be disabled and still kick ass in videogames. I have in mind Brolylegs (RIP) [1] who ranked very well in competitive Street Fighter 4, despite having to play with his literal face.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrolyLegs

danparsonson• 1 month ago

See also BlindWarriorSven, another Street Fighter legend, who as his name suggests is blind.

stodor89• 1 month ago

In Warcraft 3 we had Space: https://liquipedia.net/warcraft/Space

ElenaDaibunny• 1 month ago

curious how playability handles the false positive problem with expressions though, involuntary facial movements must trigger inputs constantly

VonGuard• 1 month ago

I am a board member of this org, and I wanted to post the link for donation in here. GOAT is dedicated to open sourcing and open copyrighting materials, schematics, and standards for accessibility hardware. Remember the guy with the robotic legs, and the manufacturer turned them off remotely? That kinda stuff simply cannot be allowed to happen.

GOAT is a fantastic organization, and when Andrei, who wrote this blog, asked for help with his wheelchair, GOAT found the parts he needed, put someone on a plane to his country, and installed the equipment. Andrei was able to go the park for the first time in years, as a result.

Please consider giving to GOAT. It's so rare for a nonprofit to be this scrappy and life changing for people. It's awesome. https://www.openassistivetech.org/contribute/

tsol• 1 month ago

Very cool. I have a friend with cerebral palsy and he has very little movement in his hands. I'd love to connect him with these kinds of devices but he has an intellectual disability that makes it especially tough. I wish there was an easy affordable way to get someone who can give advice to a guy like him. He's learned to use an iPhone because SIRI does a lot of things for him, but computers are difficult for him. Which is very limiting

love0972• 30 days ago

Great point on the Xbox Adaptive Controller — the open source hardware angle makes this even more important. If manufacturers can remotely disable devices, open alternatives become critical infrastructure.

How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy

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