Amplifying Accessibility: Dom Shaw

What’s your relationship with Accessibility and Disability Representation?

DOM
So I’m the EDI (which stands for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) Lead for Ukie, which is the trade body for video games and interactive entertainment. I do all the external activities, and more recently I’m hoping to do more internal activities for the organisation as well.

It’s quite a broad scope of work, which includes looking at Disability and Accessibility. Disabilities are another form of diversity, so I look out for its stability and advocacy and general consideration within the workplace. It’s vital to include it, as a full part of inclusion.

Do you have a favourite piece of Disabled representation in gaming?

DOM
That’s more of a brain tease than an ice breaker! [Laughs]

ELIZABETH
Well, maybe I wanna tease ya brain a little bit!

DOM
I think… right this second, there’s not many characters that come to mind. Do correct me if you can think of more, but from the top of my head I can really only think of the most recent Saints Row allowing you to choose to have amputated limbs; to allow those that may have that similar experience to feel that they’re creating their own character. Before that game, I’d never seen that in a character customisation.

ELIZABETH
Yeah, I’ve never heard of that either. That’s really cool! What?! That’s sick!

DOM
The sad thing is the game didn’t blow up as much as they hoped it would. It was still a solid game – definitely 18 plus…! [Laughs] But it lets you do Disability, nakedness and all!

ELIZABETH
Outstanding. So, with the limbs, are they just removed or are there prostheses that come into play?

DOM
They’re given prosthetic limbs, and you can choose what kind you have. Which is what made me go, “Ooh, quite interesting!”

ELIZABETH
Ah, so you still technically have the ‘limbs’ to ‘complete’ a character model, and not just a limb that is-no-more?

DOM
I mean, it would’ve been cool if they did that too.

ELIZABETH
Yeah, it would’ve been really cool from a gameplay perspective. But I guess there’s only so many ways you can work around fitting things into production, animation cycles…

DOM
With arms, it’s definitely got that element of the automation of animation. If a character’s meant to hold a two-handed weapon, and suddenly part of it’s just floating in the air, it’s more of a case of breaking down automation… Probably would’ve gone past the deadline, but it’s worth considering. I definitely think that we can go even further. And that’s a big thing around visibility – you don’t see much representation, so when you ever get any, you’re ecstatic.

ELIZABETH
Going off of that – with the inability to hold a weapon the same way – I think, when it comes to things like that, it can be seen as making the game ‘artificially too hard.’ Like, “Oh, it’s annoying that it makes the game harder to have a Disabled character that can’t hold my favourite sword, or do that one cool moveset.” And it’s like… yeah. Yeah! Welcome to real life!

Wherever there is a Disability in games, it often seems to be counteracted in some way, which isn’t always realistic – if that makes sense.

DOM
It definitely does make sense. Hopefully in the future there’s an exploration of how you can still do these kind of things, mess with animations, change the flow of gameplay for different Disabilities. One thing that Saints Row missed was the ability to just have characters in wheelchairs. The irony is that it’s a free-roam game, and there’s so much use of cars that they could’ve easily made that part of the gameplay without breaking the experience.

But the fact they’d even considered prosthesis is what made me think of it. So if I actually turn the question back to yourself, I’d love to know what you think of.

ELIZABETH
Well, I’m about the same. I struggle, honestly, to think of representation in any form, let alone my favourite. I think the most recent I saw, and had me really excited because it was super unexpected, is Hammerhead the blacksmith from Another Crab’s Treasure.

His entire body is like 90% prosthesis; he’s sort of this weird amalgamation of Long John Silver from Treasure Planet and Kamaji from Spirited Away. The premise of the game is that trash and pollution are corrupting the oceans, but the sea creatures just think they’re tools or clothes or hot commodities. His whole body is made up of incorporated junk and mechanics – like his left arm is actually a microphone stand – and it was a really, really cool concept. When I saw him, I was like, “This is so sick! He’s so cool, he looks amazing!” And he’s just a guy. He doesn’t even have plot relevance, he’s just a cool dude that exists and is Disabled!

DOM
It’s a bit like: the moment it becomes groundbreaking is when it feels so natural.

Whenever that moment will come, we will see. If it’s a game on the horizon, or yet to be developed, as long as developers keep trying – not forcing – we’ll get there.

How do you think gaming and play interact with Disability?

DOM
This is a really powerful one. So, it was the Royal Society – or the UK’s National Academy of Sciences – that just invited me to do a session with PlayStation, and I’ve recently been talking with them about this specific question.

One of the biggest elements is control. Controlling your own independence. We want to strive for greater Accessibility so everyone can play more and more. And people’s ingenuity, their pivotability, is amazing. Players want to play games, so they will find a way! They’ll find or create options that allow for controller mapping, keyboard flexibility, technologies that can control through their eye movement.

Gaming brings out, truly, that creativity and passion to experience something, but also that independence to choose what games you want and playing them the way you want. A lot of us take it for granted, but being able to present a variety of ways to interact with games and stories can become such an impactful moment. It’s why we see such incredible stories from the likes of Special Effect or Everyone Can – even RNIB have recently gotten involved in the game space.

It’s truly incredible how, compared to all the other mediums… because games offer options, choices, and interactivity – things that can often be denied to Disabled people in daily life – games also offer power. People want to feel that independence, and explore worlds that they don’t truly get to go to often, and be the ones in control – and games can do that for everyone.

What do you think is most overlooked when it comes to Disability?

DOM
So, in presenting stories, it’s definitely the authenticity and the time spent with people with that lived experience that goes missing. I definitely think it’s why we don’t see many protagonists with Disabilities, because a lot of writers say that… they just don’t know.

This is also an issue coming into the workplace, even for myself. I’m a mentor for Limit Break, and this year – because of all the layoffs and such – people have looked at my work and gone, “[gremlin voice] How does this person benefit me? I need a job, not this!”

And I’m like: I can show you the world!

ELIZABETH
Shining, shimmering, splendid…

DOM
[Laughs] Yeah! Just because I do this work doesn’t mean I don’t know anything else! There’s a whole lot more overlay and intersectionality; I’m connected with many people who could be of assistance, but if they’re not willing to be curious, then I can’t help that!

One of my LB mentees from last year wanted to become a writer, who is severely Disabled. And their home is kind of perfectly set up for a writer’s gig, but a lot of the writers they’d spoken to had discouraged them and emphasised the need to be in the office. It really shook them, made them doubt they could do this, and I just had to tell them: you can.

I introduced them to the Writers’ Guild, made them more aware of their rights. And when you think about Disability in the workplace, it matches; the visibility of the kinds of roles we can get goes under the radar. Working and game dev environments should be more Accessible to different styles of roles – permanent, gig, contract, etc. – as well as the actual role itself and what’s necessary for their tasks.

People think accommodating Disabilities takes millions. It doesn’t. You just have to actually think and put some time and effort in. It’s finding the ‘why’ and the ‘purpose’ for someone else, engaging with that empathy for your colleagues. I’ve seen companies really start to make those changes once they realise the importance of accommodation, and it’s been for the better.

One client told me offhand that their son’s autistic. At our next meeting about making their office more Accessible, one of my suggestions was: “What about changing the lighting you use? Doesn’t have to be the entire system, but just change the wattage or colour of the bulbs.” And they were like, “Oh, well, that’s still too much effort.”

So I said: “Think about how your son’s autistic and has sensitivity to lights. Would you say the same thing to him?” And so they did those light changes to make them dimmer, and from the staff feedback – even from those who weren’t autistic – a lot of them were happier after that. It cost under £100, and all kinds of people benefited. You don’t know if you don’t try, and Accessibility might start for one person but can actually help everyone.

How can we ensure equity and Accessibility are fully present in game design moving forward?

DOM
This is another powerful one, in terms of the culture around game development. One of the biggest things is, obviously, we have the laughs and the jokes about deadlines… but those pending milestones often crush us as well. Part of the reason for that is the way games are funded.

Publishers and investors will demand lots, very early, before they’re willing to pay out. We actually need to change the way we fund our games; find investors that will support us in the long term, because games can take many years to create! It becomes more of an equitable process when we have funding models that don’t pressure or demand we cut so many features.

Not to say the art of limitation doesn’t create innovation, but often what we find is that Accessibility is normally at the bottom of the ladder, ready to be cut off.

ELIZABETH
That in itself is such a challenge, it feels like. To make sure that doesn’t happen, we need the investors themselves to stand up for Accessibility as not just a core feature, but a core foundation of the game they’re buying into. And I sadly haven’t seen many who have done that historically, so there’s little precedent for it to become a staple in future, but god I wish they would…

DOM
It’s the culture, as I say, but we can change it – I feel – by standing by our Accessibility choices as developers, and proving they’re worthwhile.

ELIZABETH
Absolutely.

DOM
There’s that Disney game – Dreamlight Valley – that I actually really want to reach out to for a conversation about it. When that originally launched, there was barely any Accessibility in it. But because they’d set it up as a long-standing game, that they’d keep updating, they needed to listen to their community. They set up social media, a Discord, specific channels in there around Accessibility.

And what they started to see, as they started embedding these aspects of Accessibility into their community and mechanics, was they had more and more people playing the game. One setting, that I think should be everywhere, was that if you’re swimming in the ocean, you can turn off the waves for easier navigation. You can change the night and day system, light preferences, all these things on the go.

A key part of my dialogue on this subject is ‘options and choices.’ They really make for the impactful play of games, because people play their way. That’s what we should be encouraging. Dreamlight Valley is lucky because they had a long-term goal in mind – and I don’t know if you’d ever call it a live-service game – but it’s definitely a great example of utilising your time after release.

Whenever I think about Accessibility, I think of it like climbing a mountain. You can climb half-way up, three-quarters up, and suddenly your pick of the gods – let’s say Zeus – shows up and is all, “Ah, wanderer! Explorer! I have a new backpack for you! It’s called Accessibility! I’m also gonna make this giant snowstorm happen around you.”

ELIZABETH
Yeah, that seems like Zeus… [Laughs]

DOM
“So I want you, at the same time as thinking about Accessibility, to deal with the snowstorm, while still climbing the mountain, but now your arms are full! Okay? Cool!”

And when you’re in that situation, it becomes so much more pressured. How are people going to really implement Accessibility if it’s midway through? But if it’s at the starting or post-content phase, it’s a bit easier to go, “Ooh, okay. We’re gonna climb this new mountain. What do we need?”

It’s all about prep and insight, and getting the community involved. What’s the phrase the Disabled Community use…?

ELIZABETH
“Nothing about us without us.”

DOM
There we go! And that’s so vital. Otherwise we get really stereotypical characters and elements.

ELIZABETH
It’s absolutely true. It’s ensuring all kinds of representation and visibility, and everything that goes into considering both narratives and mechanics, are fully baked in. If you’re making a cake, you can’t have it already in the oven and go, “Ah, I forgot the feckin’ eggs!” and smoosh them in on top.

Accessibility and authentic representation have to be the baking tray, not any of the ingredients that go inside it.

DOM
Exactly. It’s those fundamentals and foundation that really keep us moving. Without them, we end up in development crunch. It’s vital, not just for representation, but for all aspects of the game itself.

What do you look forward to most for the future of game development and representation?

DOM
It’s a bit of a selfish one, but what I look forward to most is seeing greater representation. Particularly if someone, for example, wants to make more authentic neurodivergent characters, and asks me if I know people. And I can be like, “Yes, I am one such person! I would love to advise, and mayhaps even voice act in your game!”

ELIZABETH
“Yes, I am the one you’re looking for!”

DOM
Exactly! I can’t wait for there to be more kinds of opportunities, for me and others to be able to go, “That character right there! They’re a real good character! Wanna know why? Because I voice them!”

ELIZABETH
[Laughs] God, this is hitting a little too home for me, as someone who definitely doesn’t do that with games I voice…! I would neveeeeer…

DOM
Well, obviously, one of the reasons I bring it up! You must feel really good, when you see a character that’s written really well, and you can say, “I had a part in that! I can bring authentic elements to this whole game!”

ELIZABETH
I don’t know how this interview turned back onto me, mate, but yes, it feels great! [Laughs]

I’m gonna keep this short, but hey – Fallout: London. Out very soon, we have some amazing talent like Neil Newbon, Sylvester McCoy; hundreds of people who worked on it! It’s amazing, it’s a gorgeous community effort! And it’s my first opportunity to voice a character who’s actually Disabled. After 8 years as a VA, I finally got to do it – and I lost my mind! And she’s not the only one who’s Disabled!

It really took me by surprise. And I just cried a little bit when I got the role, because she’s such a visible character – she gets name-dropped in the opening sequence, so there’s no missing her at all – and I’m like, what? Me? I’ve never had the opportunity to even audition for a Disabled character, because I just never see them listed anywhere!

DOM
The fact it’s developed by the community makes so much difference. It’s really important to have games and studios that empower their communities to make projects like this, because then in turn… studios themselves might start taking notes too, and feel empowered to make representation like their community makes. If they see a demand for characters like this, and see that it is possible and successful, then they’ll start making more of their own. Which we can both voice, and it’ll be great! [Laughs]

Lastly, what does Disability Pride mean to you?

DOM
It’s a mixture, to me. There’s obviously the element of celebrating who you are, regardless. But I also like the nuance of it. As in, we’ve just done Queer Pride, and people can forget the reason why both Prides are together is because there is that nuance.

One of the most common stereotypes is that Disabled people can’t love. Whether that’s neurologically, or physically, or some other way attributed to being Disabled. And I am very much opposed to that, because love is love. The beauty of Disability Pride is that it emphasises not only loving who you are, but it also maximises the different stories of love.

When we think about Pride, we think of people in the standard human silhouette. But with Disability Pride, it goes beyond the expected human shape, or size, or ability to stand in a silhouette, and it focuses in on the love and care. That’s what’s key.

The challenges, barriers, and impairments we face make us more resilient – stronger – and we should  be proud of that. Everyone can have a great life, filled with love – it’s just that perspective that Disability Pride gives that so strongly.