Video game inclusivity is becoming a topic of important discussion lately, with many people vying for better representation of people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and disabled players. With charities such asAbleGamers working with developersto create games for people with disabilities, the world of gaming is opening up to all sorts of inclusive features and requirements. With that in mind, a number of people have been askingTwitchto implement some changes to its site in preparation for this year’s Disability Pride Month.
In a post published on UserVoice, a section of theTwitchwebsite that allows people to give feedback and comments to enable the platform to improve, streamer Queerlybee has put forward an impassioned statement to the company that it should add front page features for disabled streamers and viewers. At the time of writing, the post has nearly 340 votes, with a slew of commenters approving the message, and agreeing that disability features are an important way of including even more people on the site, with one person adding that Disability Pride Month is “hardly ever recognized.”
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The main crux of the post posits thatdisabled Twitch streamersfind it hard to navigate the algorithms, or pinpointing accessible-friendly games and programs. Their suggestion is that the site works to offset such challenges by, first of all, hosting a Disability Pride Month, as well as “highlighting disabled creators” which is something the site does already for Black History Month etc.
While the original poster is not necessarily attackingTwitch which does have accessibility featuresalready, such as allowing for font sizes to be adjusted for those with visual impairment, their statement merely asks the company to acknowledge the disabled community as well. With many in the comments giving shout-outs to disabled content creators, there is an overall idea that the platform would be doing a disservice if they missed the chance to allow those with disabilities to use the site more easily, or to highlight some of the broadcasters.
Queerlybee is already a highlighted Pride Month streamer, and it seems thatTwitchis very good at representing many aspects of society, and being as inclusive as it can be. However, it does seem that there is more work to be done, especially towards the disabled community. For anyone interested, Disability Pride Month will be going ahead this year in July. Let’s hope that the site, and many others, acknowledge the diversity in the gaming world by implementing new accessibility functions that include everyone.
