The Disabled Life Archives

Accessibility Report: HyperX Cloud Revolver S Gaming Headset

Black headphones on a dark blue background

by Lydia Rivers

Note: This review focuses on how the item interacts with my disability. If you wish to read about technical specifications and general features, I recommend Techradar’s comprehensive review. This is not a paid review or endorsement.

Hello everyone! My name is Lydia, and I’m a disabled gamer, writer, and visual novel designer. I’m constantly listening to all kinds of things to help me concentrate and relieve stress; it’s common for me to exceed ten hours’ worth of daily listening to music and other sound-intensive media, whether I’m active at work or sick in bed. I have chronic migraines, dyslexia, and clinical ADHD, so when it comes to a headset, I’m as needy as they get! Numerous symptoms interfere with my ability to utilize most headsets on the market, and it’s difficult to know where to begin because of the chronic lack of information addressing my concerns. Well, I recently purchased a HyperX Cloud Revolver S, and here is my experience for those in a similar predicament!

Radical Love: On the Hermana Resist Zine Anthology

A copy of the zine anthology, with a woman and child on her lap. The book sits on a table

I met Noemi over ten years ago through our shared love of zines. Those self-published, personal manifestos served as a witness to our lives, and continue as a source of expression in a world that doesn’t hold space for marginalized people.

Almost two decades after publishing her first zine, Noemi Martinez is putting together the Hermana Resist Zine Anthology; it’s a collection of all her zines to date. She says, “I wanted to document my experience as a young brown crip mother in a little place called the Rio Grande Valley as I dealt with being a single parent, poverty, working/working poor, chronically ill, depression/anxiety and all the feelings in between.”

Writing While Disabled: The Damage of Ableism

screenshot of wordpress with the text writing while disabled in blue

by Erin Hawley

“Are people telling me this thing I wrote is good because it’s actually good, or are they praising it because they have such low expectations of me?”

Being a writer is hard. I’m a perfectionist, which makes me dislike everything I produce. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing, as my perfectionism makes me a decent writer and an even better editor.

But as a disabled writer, I question other people’s reactions to my work. The opening quote is something I ask myself every time I share my writing with others.

Game Developers Conference: A Wheelchair User’s Experience

Cherry in their wheelchair in front of a map display for a game

Guest blogger: Cherry Rae

I recently attended my first Game Developers Conference, which was as intense as everyone who went to GDC promised me. It was also a successful and positive experience for me! However, I encountered some physical accessibility barriers.

I have fierce impostor syndrome and didn’t think I would be half as busy as I ended up being, but I experienced much more of the conference than I thought I would. I was invited to attend as a speaker on a panel discussing the current state of accessibility in games and where we see it going in the future. They also afforded me the opportunity to give the final presentation of the day-long Games Accessibility Conference that runs on the Monday of GDC.

The moment I said yes, I tried to figure out how accessible things would be. Aside from travel being difficult, as an autistic wheelchair user with very limited energy, it’s important that I plan and know what to expect in a busy and intimidating environment.

When Accessibility isn’t Accessible

A black and white door with a red universal symbol of disability on it

by Erin Hawley

Society often frames accessibility as something abled people do to make the world easier to navigate for disabled folks, whether it’s an ambulatory contractor building a ramp at a restaurant, or a hearing employee putting captions on their organization’s videos. But the reality is that disabled people are also making their spaces and creations accessible to other disabled individuals. This is powerful because we know best the importance of having true inclusivity for community spaces, both online and off. The problem is, sometimes, making things accessible is not within our abilities.

Convention Tips for Spoonies: Nerding Out with Fibromyalgia (and Other Disabilities)

Aerial shot of a convention hall packed with people looking at booths

Guest blogger: Elaine Tamblyn-Watts is an Ottawa-based Anglo-Anishinaabe writer and editor. She was supposed to become a foreign correspondent, but she developed fibromyalgia and had to drop out of journalism school, so now she watches a lot of cartoons and gets a lot more work done. Elaine served as copy editor for The Charlatan for the 2016-17 year, put out a poetry chapbook called Fingernail Moon, and is currently working on about nineteen other projects.

My best friend is a cosplayer. Between her eye for detail, her sewing skills, her sheer resourcefulness, and her courage in the face of frequent glue-gun burns, she’s got a real knack for it – and it shows. For her, our local comic con is bigger than Christmas. She waits for it, prepares for it, works late into the night beforehand and early the morning of. Last spring, she dragged me along with her.

Psyched as I was for us to hang out together, especially in full Teen Titans cosplay, I didn’t handle it super well. The lack of sleep barely fazed her, but it had me looking more like a Walking Dead extra than a 2005-era Cartoon Network Raven. I stumbled through the convention center parking lot with very little grasp of what I was getting into. After five minutes in the main con area, I nope’d back out again to hunt down some coffee and silence. By the end of the day, I was miserable and exhausted, and I figured conventions weren’t for me.

Facing Anxiety: Streaming Games While Disabled

Through most of my life, I’ve been afraid of public speaking. I always found more comfort in the written word; there’s a relief in the solace of the craft, and it gives me time to construct the perfect sentence. Getting my job at Easterseals forced me into public speaking, mostly over the phone. I facilitate conferences between our organization and potential influencers, report my progress during our department meetings, and hold one-on-one chats with my boss every Friday. All of these things would have seemed impossible to me a few years ago. Now, I still feel that twist in my stomach as my voice shakes, and my mind goes blank when asked questions. But with over two years of working there, I learned to find that confidence to speak, and to (mostly) not care if someone misunderstands me or notices how nervous I am.

Building that energy to speak publicly also affected my work here at The Geeky Gimp. I’ve branched off and made a podcast, hosted live events on Google, and now stream regularly on Twitch. I even appear on Geek Girl Riot, a show on Idobi Radio with over 20,000 listeners. Being forced to approach my fears led to other opportunities that I enjoy, and different ways to express myself. I’m able to reach out to more audiences about disability inclusion and accessibility. And more importantly, I’ve made some amazing friends through these projects where I would otherwise feel isolated.

Geeky Gimp Birthday Event: Streaming for AbleGamers Charity #SoEveryoneCanGame

The Geeky Gimp's Live Birthday event for AbleGamers Charity August 27

Join me on my birthday for a fundraising event to benefit AbleGamers Charity! On August 27th, from 2pm to 8pm …

The Digital Crip Wave: Podcasts by Disabled People

The Digital Wave: Podcasts by Disabled People

I started listening to podcasts about two years ago when I was looking to alleviate my insomnia; the first show I found was Denzel Washington is the Greatest Actor of All Time Period with W. Kamau Bell and Kevin Avery. Being a Denzealot myself (who isn’t?), I was hooked by these hilarious and insightful dudes breaking down the best of Denzel’s work.

Then I started checking out other podcasts, like Stuff You Should Know, The Black Tapes, and Welcome to Night Vale. They all fascinated me in different ways, but I longed for the disability voice I wasn’t hearing in these shows. I wanted to know where all the crips were, and how I could support their work on the digital airwaves.

Through research and word-of-mouth, I discovered these rich, powerful, illuminating shows produced by crips. That’s why I created this living resource showcasing podcasts by disabled people. Our words hold value, and more folks need to pay attention.

My Gimpy Feet: The Quest to Find Accessible Shoes

Finding shoes that work on my feet is a trial, for several reasons. Muscular Dystrophy makes my ankles contract and curve inward; this shape also makes my ankle bone protrude, leaving the sides of my feet extremely sensitive. And because they arch so heavily, they’re smaller than average, meaning I wear child-size shoes. Imagine me, age 33, trying to find sandals in the kid’s section that aren’t bedazzled with Frozen characters or excessive bows. But that isn’t the only trouble; my sensitivity issues mean I can’t slide my foot into most shoes – so sneakers and boots are out, and anything with a heel is impossible.