As a child, videogames were often Steve Spohn’s only way to connect with others. He was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy as an infant and spent significant time in the hospital as a child. “The only way to reach out to the world was through this very cool gaming setup that the hospital would bring into the room,” he recalled. An in-game friend, known only by her pink star avatar, “became my solace in a place where every day they were hurting me and I was scared,” he said.
Spohn, the former COO of AbleGamers and current director of the Mount Sinai Back to Life Center, and Vicki Karlovsky, inclusion coordinator at Deerfield (Ill.) Public Library (DPL), discussed how libraries can bring that experience to a wider audience in “Adaptive Arcade at the Library: Video Games are for Everyone,” a June 29 session at the American Library Association’s Annual Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia.
“It’s not about the game, it’s about the connection,” Spohn emphasized several times during the session.
Libraries are an excellent venue to provide that opportunity. “Libraries are community hubs,” Karlovsky said. She added that NPR has reported an estimated 46 million gamers with disabilities in the US. “They’re living in the communities we serve, whether we’re aware of them or not.”
DPL partnered with AbleGamers to host an Adaptive Arcade event. The open house–style event utilized three gaming systems—a PlayStation 5, a Nintendo Switch, and a gaming PC with an Xbox controller—playing games like Rocket League, Mario Kart, and Sackboy.
“There are many ways to customize [controllers] for adaptive gaming,” Karlovsky said. These included both commercial and homemade options. Purchased options included PlayStation Access and Logitech Adaptive controllers. Both cost $80 to $100 and come with a variety of hardware that can be swapped out as needed. The library also 3D printed several assistive devices. (Spohn recommended sources including Temple University’s TechOWL and Printables user Caleb Kraft.)
DPL hosted the event in its large meeting room. The space had room for all three gaming stations plus a 3D printing demonstration and displays for both the library and AbleGamers. The accessibility of program spaces is an important and potentially overlooked concern, Karlovsky observed. She also recommended offering a sensory break area. “This is a raucous program, so it can be a bit overstimulating for anybody,” she said.
Both speakers also emphasized that hosting an event like this doesn’t require a lot of experience.
“With the exception of the AbleGamers reps, none of us were experts,” Karlovsky said. “We were just enthusiastic and eager to learn.”
“It’s good to have great organizations to reach out to for help, but the truth is that it’s not necessary,” Spohn added. Online accessible-gaming experts he recommends learning from include Radderss, Liana Ruppert, and DeafGamersTV.
Karlovsky acknowledged that reaching disabled people, particularly those who are not library users and may have had bad experiences with inaccessible libraries in the past, can be a challenge. “I sent out so many cold emails,” she stated, to state and local disability organizations, veterans organizations, and more. But the success is worth it. She shared an anecdote from another program where DPL brought accessible videogames to a local organization she often worked with.
“There was one person who had never been a gamer, but he tried Rocket League. As soon as he pressed the button and the car lurched forward, his whole face lit up,” Karlovsky recalled. “I’d never seen him this animated before.”
