Games are great for allowing players to experience different perspectives. And I have some ideas about different perspectives in general. Wheelchairs need to be reinvented and celebrated as independence equipment rather than used as a prop in horror stories. Games would be perfect for this.
I’m not suggesting a ‘disability simulator.’ The wheelchair needs to be an interesting game mechanic, and one that can be used to explore how wheelchair users navigate their environment from a different perspective.
As a wheelchair user who has severe muscle degeneration, bumpy obstacles are uncomfortable and make it difficult to keep my body steady. Sometimes driving a wheelchair outside can be like a Trials game but without that safety net of hitting that restart button.
Driving a wheelchair outside is a challenging task, in other words. I’m constantly scanning the environment with my Iron Man visor to find the best route with the smoothest terrain, deciding how to get past obstacles, navigate around meandering pedestrians and most importantly stay alive.