Photo: BBC.
The 2023 version of the game Just Dance includes a routine suitable for people in wheelchairs. Gamer Seth Burke, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, learns the technique.
When people talk about “gaming,” I don’t always know what they mean. That’s how far out of it I am. But when I saw a headline about gaming and wheelchairs, I wanted to learn more. It seems that some video-game companies are working to make their products accessible to all, especially games that ask the participants to move certain ways, even dance.
The BBC writes that more than 135 million people have played Just Dance. The network asked teenager Seth Burke to report on how accessible he thinks the game is for people who have a disability.
“Ubisoft’s video game has 500 unique choreographies that users from around the world follow. Seth, 14, from Vale of Glamorgan [in Wales], was invited to the company’s Paris studio to test out the latest version.
“He spoke to designers and choreographers and gave his input on a new routine for people in wheelchairs. This is his story.”
Seth: “Like most teenagers, I love gaming with my friends and brothers, but using a wheelchair means I’m not always able to join in with every video game. I have a disability that affects my muscles. If I play a game that involves me moving a lot, I’m not always very good at it and my arms ache easily.
“Gaming is important to me, so I wanted to know how tech companies are creating new games to suit people with disabilities. I was invited, with Children in Need, to meet the Paris-based team behind the hit game Just Dance.
“The latest version of the game features, for the first time, a routine performed by a dancer in a wheelchair. Players are invited to sit and follow the arm movements whilst holding their phone or console.
” ‘Everyone can get joy from dance,’ Stacey Jenkins, one of Ubisoft’s accessibility design specialists told me. ‘Game development is a really long process, but if you start to think about accessibility right at the beginning, we can make things accessible by design. …
“But is it possible to make all games accessible to all people?
” ‘I think it’s really difficult to make games completely 100% accessible to absolutely everybody at the same time,’ says Stacey. ‘Every game that we release, if it’s more accessible than the last, then we’re making good progress.’
“After chatting to Stacey, I tested Just Dance in the studio with Florent Devlesaver, a Belgian dancer in a wheelchair, who features in the game. He told me how he had to adapt the dance moves to work for him, as well as making sure they still worked in a video game.
“I loved meeting Florent and having a go at the dance routine in the studio. … It was nice to see that even though you have a disability, it doesn’t define you and you can do whatever you want with your life. I think people are making a huge effort to develop more accessible games, but it’s going to take some time. … I definitely think things are changing. I have confidence.”
More at the BBC, here. To learn more about the BBC Children in Need initiative, click here. According to the website, “BBC Children in Need is here to make sure that every child has the childhood they deserve – and the support they need to thrive.
“We are committed to funding the grassroots organizations and project workers across the UK that provide the vital positive relationships children need to help them navigate the challenges in their lives. Our project workers support, inspire and champion them to ensure they have opportunities and can reach their goals. And that will always be our approach.
“We fund thousands of charities and projects in every corner of the UK, that support children and young people to feel and be safer, have improved mental health and well-being, form better, more positive relationships and be given more equal opportunities to flourish.”
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