The AbleGamers Foundation

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AbleGamers Foundation
Founded 2004
Founder Mark Barlet and Stephanie Walker
Type Public Charity
Focus Gamers with Disabilities
Location
  • Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Area served
 Internationally
Members
 2000
Founder and Executive Director
 Mark C. Barlet
Key people
 Mark Barlet, Steve Spohn, Craig Kaufman
Revenue
 ~$495,000 in 2015
Employees
 2
Volunteers
 300
Slogan Improving the quality of life for people with disabilities using the power of digital entertainment.
Website http://www.ablegamers.org

The AbleGamers Foundation (AKA The AbleGamers Charity) is a leading nonprofit organization and foundation dedicated to bringing greater accessibility in the video game space[1] so people with disabilities can gain a greater quality of life through developing a rich social life that gaming can bring.[2] The AbleGamers Foundation promotes open dialog, education, research and funding grants[3] in the area of accessibility. Ablegamers.com is a website run by the AbleGamers Foundation that specifically caters to the game accessibility community.

In 2012, The AbleGamers Foundation opened "The AbleGamers Center on Game Accessibility and Inclusive Play" in Harpers Ferry, WV. The center offers a place for people with disabilities to come and experience cutting-edge accessible technology. It also has a makers space for custom controller design, and prototyping. The AbleGamers Songbird Studo, named after the lifesize Songbird from BioShock Infinite donated to the charity by Irrational Games in 2014.[4]

January 2016 the charity announced that it was extending its mission to include a new program entiteled, “Expansion Packs”. Partnering with sponsors, AbleGamers is building accessible game rooms for activity centers that support people with disabilities. The first being at the Pediatric Specialty Care in Hopewell PA[5]

The AbleGamers Foundation is working with Evil Controllers to design accessible peripherals for disabled gamers.[6]

The AbleGamers Foundation was granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity status in 2009.

Public Appearances

  • The AbleGamers Foundation has presented well over a two dozen panels at PAX East, PAX Prime, and PAX South over the last 7 years on various topics, from diversity in the video game industry, to strategies to support people with disabilities in guilds and clans.
  • In 2011 AbleGamers was invited to present at the Microsoft Pacific-Asian Development Group in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While there, AbleGamers also presented a hands on display of accessible game equipment, called Game Accessibility Arcade. at this demonstration it was the first time a Microsoft Kinect was on public display in the country.
  • In March, 2014, AbleGamers presented “Includification - a Practical Guide to Game Accessibility” at SXSW Gaming
  • Oct 5, 2015, Founder Mark Barlet was the Opening Keynote at the ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHIPLAY) in London England
  • March 2016, A panel at SXSWedu "We Need to Talk: Building Inclusive Communities" [7]
  • March 2016, A solo talk at Game Developers Conference tilted "Includification: How to Make Your Game(s) More Inclusive to Millions" [8]
  • March 2016, A solo talk by Jessie Hall at CSUN Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference titled "How Video Game A11y Helps You Reach 100M Gamers and Defeat that Final Boss" [9]

Awards

Mark Barlet, president AbleGamers received the 2012 American Association of People with Disabilities Hearne Leadership Award for his work at AbleGamers.[10]

In 2013 AbleGamers won a MS Society Da Vinci Awards for the Includification[11] "A Practical Guide to Game Accessibility," the first time the award had been given to a document and concept, not a product. AbleGamers also won the LEO Award, the 'People's Choice.'

Gamergate

During the Gamergate controversy, porn star Mercedes Carrera offered to perform a porn stream to raise money for the group. Although this was initially accepted, staff at the foundation saw statements on Reddit suggesting the stream was associated with GamerGate. The foundation then pulled its support stating they felt they were mislead.[12][13] Representatives from their hosting provider stated the AbleGamers site was subsequently subjected to a DDoS attack.[14] Carrera stated that the charity stream was not associated with GamerGate. She cited others who had researched the DDoS claim and concluded it was a result of an increase in traffic due to the controversy.[15] Stating that she was not upset by the rejection, Carrera later chose to use the planned porn stream to fund a scholarship to be administered by The Fine Young Capitalists.[16]

References

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External links

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