Blind, disabled, and gay: How one game journalist deals with barriers and prejudice
Robert Kingett is a game journalist. He’s also fully blind in one eye, suffers from cerebral palsy, stutters, and is gay. That can make life difficult, and gamers aren’t known as the most welcoming bunch.
But disabilities and prejudice haven’t stopped Kingett from playing games (he’s “weirdwriter” on PlayStation Network and “weirdwriter11? on Xbox Live) — or being an inspiration to others. He’s a motivational speaker, a critic, and an advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities. He lives in Chicago, is involved with campaigns like the accessible Netflix project, describes himself as popular and versatile — “a Rubik’s Cube” — and sounds incredibly confident given his challenges.
We chatted with Kingett (through email because of his stutter) about what gaming is like through his eyes: What it’s like to be a “gaymer” with disadvantages, how his handicaps change how he interacts with games, what issues in the industry are important to him — and what developers are doing wrong — and most importantly, why perspectives such as his are so valuable to the larger discussion of games.
http://venturebeat.com/2014/02/05/kingett-blind-gamer-disabilities-interview/
Not a bad interview, worth reading.
