What Accessibility Means to Me

Growing up, I never felt like a gamer. I would watch countless hours of gameplay and lore videos on YouTube, so I would know more than almost anyone around me about video games. However, I found that many games I would try to play weren’t built for me. I had a hard time with games that needed me to be exact with my movements, games with lots of words, or games that were particularly punishing. 

Daily life as a kid was hard for me. I have dyslexia and ADHD, so it was a daily battle to get any assignments done. Everything around me, including myself, told me that I wasn’t as smart as everyone else. I wanted to escape to a world where that didn’t matter, where I could just be myself and not be punished for how my brain worked. Yet, many of the available games focused on punishing the player until they were a master.

I am now at a point where I play hundreds of hours on games, but I only got here thanks to some wonderful game designers who focused on making experiences for players like me. I now feel like there are games that I can fully escape to. This has inspired me to make other experiences for people like me, people for whom many games just aren’t made for.