A guide for making video games accessible to users with cerebral palsy

Abstract

Video games were initially considered as a form of entertainment. Today, this perception has changed. Many video games have been designed for a wide range of purposes: education, rehabilitation, etc. This paper presents our experience developing video games in collaboration with an association of users with cerebral palsy. Cerebral palsy is characterized by a group of permanent disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitation. This means that people affected by this disease are unable to handle the usual devices used in video games. Moreover, video games offer these people a form of leisure that can also benefit them in many ways: autonomy, strength, coordination, self-confidence, learning from error, etc. Three adapted video games have been developed as well as a guide for designing accessible video games for people with cerebral palsy. This experience has served to study and design new ways of making video games accessible to disabled people, giving them the chance to exercise their right to entertainment.