<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Video games are an expanding area of popular culture spanning traditional age, gender and socioeconomic divides and appealing to a diverse market. People with disability represent a significant but under researched gaming demographic (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_csci.128_ref_008">Beeston et al., 2018</xref>). While this group represent a large portion of the gaming population, inaccessible interfaces and consoles may prevent people with disability from playing games. Despite this, research dating back to 2008 suggests 92% of gamers with disability continue to play games despite these obstacles. This paper aims to put the topic of gamers with disabilities on the agenda for Open Literacies.
The paper brings into dialogue research and conceptions of disability and digital media (especially the work of Gerard Goggin, Meryl Alper, Katie Ellis and Elizabeth Ellcessor) with accounts of gamers with disability, and how we might understand digital access as a cultural practice (for instance, the work of Foley &amp; Ferri). This theoretical synthesis leads us to draw attention to the alternative ways in which games can be played and the impacts this has for the disability community.
A secondary aim of the paper is to consider the contexts in which disability appears in gaming in popular culture and everyday life. For example, therapeutic and educational contexts dominate while recreation is considered less important. The paper concludes with reflections about the ways disabled gamers engage in open literacy to bring accessibility to the forefront and change the rules of the game.</abstract>

Video games are an expanding area of popular culture spanning traditional age, gender and socioeconomic divides and appealing to a diverse market. People with disability represent a significant but under researched gaming demographic (Beeston et al., 2018). While this group represent a large portion of the gaming population, inaccessible interfaces and consoles may prevent people with disability from playing games. Despite this, research dating back to 2008 suggests 92% of gamers with disability continue to play games despite these obstacles. This paper aims to put the topic of gamers with disabilities on the agenda for Open Literacies.
The paper brings into dialogue research and conceptions of disability and digital media (especially the work of Gerard Goggin, Meryl Alper, Katie Ellis and Elizabeth Ellcessor) with accounts of gamers with disability, and how we might understand digital access as a cultural practice (for instance, the work of Foley & Ferri). This theoretical synthesis leads us to draw attention to the alternative ways in which games can be played and the impacts this has for the disability community.
A secondary aim of the paper is to consider the contexts in which disability appears in gaming in popular culture and everyday life. For example, therapeutic and educational contexts dominate while recreation is considered less important. The paper concludes with reflections about the ways disabled gamers engage in open literacy to bring accessibility to the forefront and change the rules of the game.

Who Gets to Play? Disability, Open Literacy, Gaming

Cultural Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Who Gets to Play? Disability, Open Literacy, Gaming"}

Video games are an expanding area of popular culture spanning traditional age, gender and socioeconomic divides and appealing to a diverse market. People with...

Who Gets to Play? Disability, Open Literacy, Gaming

Article Category: Research

Published Online: Dec 10, 2019

Page range: 111 - 125

Received: Nov 13, 2019

Accepted: Nov 13, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.128

Keywords
gaming, disability, open literacies, accessibility, disability media studies, innovations commons

© 2019 Katie Ellis, Kai-Ti Kao, published by De Gruyter

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Who Gets to Play? Disability, Open Literacy, Gaming

Article Category: Research

Published Online: Dec 10, 2019

Page range: 111 - 125

Received: Nov 13, 2019

Accepted: Nov 13, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/csci.128

Keywordsgaming, disability, open literacies, accessibility, disability media studies, innovations commons

© 2019 Katie Ellis, Kai-Ti Kao, published by De Gruyter

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
gaming, disability, open literacies, accessibility, disability media studies, innovations commons