cherryrae_

(note: I'm being rate limited by reddit so I can't reply as fast or as frequently as I'd like, apologies! I'll try to get to any replies I miss later)

Yes! I have the adaptive controller and it's pretty amazing. The thing that feels most exciting to me as someone with progressive disabilities is the sheer ability to customize it and change the set up as time goes on or even depending on my fluctuating impairments. Right now my disabilities are at a point where I can largely still use a regular controller save for a few difficult to do actions (holding down lower triggers, pressing stick buttons etc) and I can use the XAC in copilot mode with a regular controller without even the need for added switches. Yet, in the future and on 'bad' days I have the options there to use it even more.

The other thing that is most special to me is its design... it's as beautiful and sleek as any gaming peripheral. For too long as disabled people we're stuck with hacked or institutionalized hardware... I want beautiful things too. There's no reason adaptive tech has to be ugly and an eyesore in my home, yet it often is. This along with it being a mainstream company doing this is what feels most special to me as a disabled gamer (:

Yes! I also forgot to mention... the fact that it interfaces with the XBox OS and is built into the software is also a big deal. This takes a lot of technological burden off the user from the usual hacked together solutions. It also breaks down a lot of barriers for people who have both cognitive and motor disabilities by having it available by the same software/OS a regular controller is. That's a huge deal for many of us!

I think tabletop is only just beginning to open up to welcoming people of lots of different backgrounds into the community, and in my experience this is why it might be a little behind the video games industry. Still as Ian says there are some people making headway. I think the best thing to do is talk about it... talk about how disabled people and others like to play tabletop and how accessibility is important. The early days are always the hardest to be heard but the more people talking about it the better

As a disabled gamer and accessibility advocate the 'sorry it's not possible' often comes when a game is late in development or post release and the barriers are too hard coded (and expensive) to fix. This is why we always say do everything you can from the beginning and make it a normal part of development. Going hand in hand with this is just getting teams talking about accessibility because it is good design practice.

I'd also say people's perceptions of exactly who is able to even play games is a big challenge. I know gamers without any sight who absolutely love gaming and yet so much of the industry still believes that sight is integral to being able to play a video game. So, breaking down these perceptions and getting people to realize that their player base could actually be so much more diverse than they might think is a challenge.

Yes, sadly my wheelchair doesn't have this capability yet. I'll take applications for an engineer that wants to help me with my lack of time travel options though