Ah, leave it to the Japanese to make the cutest kitty cat commercial ever! Enjoy your minute of kitty zen! :)

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kwkgh3Zo1E]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Kwkgh3Zo1E

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I caught a story this morning that I personally  have been waiting a long time to see come to fruition. Yeah this isnt about gaming but I know many ablegamers here to whom this story will apply. 

Basically, if you have sustained an injury classification of  PTSD while serving in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, you might be able to get a higher % disability rating than you currently have right now. You can also get an expedited new review of your case if you were discharged for PTSD and not given benefits. You should be getting a letter that will let you opt in to the lawsuit that was brought against the VA which has made all of this possible.

To anyone this applies too - make sure you get a letter and opt in before the July 24th deadline. I want you all to receive all the benefits to which you are owed.  You can go to the link below and read the story for yourself.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/25/us/politics/AP-US-Veterans-Lawsuit.html?_r=1

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I have been thinking a lot about 2009 and how to describe what kind of year its been. Ever since Jan 1st, I keep getting the question and I havent really been sure what to say. There are reasons for me to really love it and reasons to really hate it.

My MS decided to give me some serious problems last year - pretty much all year long. Moving my life and family from Texas to Nevada was more difficult than even I had imagined. Add to that the stresses of remotely buying and putting together a new house, and it just was all so much to deal with.

Despite all of those things though, I think last year was probably the best I have had in a very long while. Sometimes I stare at 2 full address books and the notebook I bought to put names in because address books just dont have enough space for me anymore. So many names, so many people, so many stories that have been entrusted to me. I am humbled. I feel honored that so many people, some of them fantastic ablegamers, would feel comfortable enough with me to open up about your lives the way you have.

I have learned much about life in general and about myself  through you. At the very least, you have affirmed that choosing to be in counseling was the right path for me. At the most, you inspire me to be a better person everyday. Your stories are often full of hope, or can be funny, and occasionally they even bring us to tears. We have been through the full gambit of emotions together. It has been real in a way that few things are anymore.

I never cease to be amazed at the power of the human spirit. Many of you endure things that I would have thought would break even the strongest of people. But there you are, still strong and refusing to be brought down. You do make me try harder in my own life and ,for that, I cannot say thank you enough.

I love hearing your thoughts and the stories of your lives. I am so glad you have given me that opportunity to hear you out and to help when I could. You have changed me for the better this last year. That is what has made 2009 one of the best years of my life. Even taking into account all my trials, I wouldnt trade this last year for anything.

I am looking forward to 2010 and the challenges it is sure to bring. The troop increase in Afghanistan this year will, unfortunately, probably mean that I am just as busy in 2010 talking to the war wounded. They need your thoughts and prayers.

That said, I am still available to anyone who wants or needs to talk about anything you need or want to discuss - living with disability, games, family, or whatever else you want to talk about. I even take anonymous email if you just need to get something off your chest and you dont want to give a name. I seem to be getting more of those lately. I can give a reply or not - its all up to you. I try my best to reply the same day but sometimes it might take a little longer depending on how much mail I have that day. Somedays are light and other days my  eyes bug out at a stuffed full box. I love it though. :)

I wish you all a good 2010. I know Ablegamers will continue to grow and be a force for positive change this year. A big thanks and lots of love to my best friend Mark for all his hard work. Thanks to all the staff of AG for a great year. We have come so far from the beginning. I appreciate all of you. Keep up the great work!

Stephanie/Camilya  :)

stephanie@ablegamers.com

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If you have been around Ablegamers for a while, then you will no doubt have read about the various companies who are developing technologies that use your mind to control and manipulate objects on  your computer screen. We got to meet many companies at GDC08 that were attempting to sell mind control to the mass market.

Fast forward to this Christmas 09 and the ToysRUs Big Toy Book. Every year I let my daughter look through and circle the things she likes. Low and behold, this year she has circled something called Mindflex and StarWars Science The Force Trainer. I hadnt heard about either of them, but they look like they could be interesting so I go to the internets to find out more.

It turns out that NeuroSky helped to develop both of these games. We got a chance to meet them back at GDC08 and they were truely very nice people. We were shown computer games that used mind control back then so Im a little surprised to see that they have been able to cross that technology over into table top games. Mattel makes the Mindflex and Uncle Milton Industries makes The Force Trainer. Both games are mass market and widely available, which is quite an accomplishment for NeuroSky. Congrats to them!

I was a little disapointed to see that the Mindflex actually requires you to use your hand to move the little ball left and right after you elevate it with the power of your mind. I guess we are moving  in baby steps as far as mind control, but at least maybe we are moving in the right direction.  The Force Trainer looks like it might be a good toy for kids especially if they like StarWars.  As far as I can tell, its no hands required.

As a side note here, I want to mention the fact that StarWars The Force Trainer totally rips off Michelle's name and idea for our GDC08 session Game Accessibility Arcade: Or How to Do the Jedi Mind Trick, during which we had demonstrations of mind control devices. I think they owe you some money Michelle! :)

See them in action here

The Force Trainer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMznvnMw-ys

Mindflex

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5NQrr5xj3U

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Let me start off by saying I/we in no way condone the defacing of our national currency. That would be technically illegal and I certainly dont want you pointing your marker stained fingers at me when the feds come looking for you.
But I did get quite a chuckle at this list of 25 ways people found to deface our money. Go take a look at all 25 and enjoy that Zombie Lincoln just in time for Halloween! Thanks goes to Holytaco! :) Do you have a favorite?


http://www.holytaco.com/25-hilarious-defaced-bills

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I read an interesting story this morning about a senior buddhist monk,  Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who loves to game. He did a great interview in which he goes on to talk about how beneficial he feels gaming is for himself and for other people. You can check it out here.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10358188-62.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Many of us already are aware of how gaming can be more than just a fun, casual way to pass the time. Gaming can be so much more, especially to people dealing with all manners of health problems.
I am glad to see someone else is willing to tell the world that gaming is not the devil. And he's a monk - he should know! :)

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I was skimming through the morning news and I caught a story that gets me very excited. Finally, researcher Anthony Cahill, a disability specialist at the University of New Mexico, has come up with a more accurate number of people in the US living with paralysis. They estimate 1.3 million living with spinal cord injury and 5.5 million living with some level of neurological paralysis.

 These numbers dont really surprise me. What surprises me is that many in the medical community still seem clueless about how many of us there are. I hope that studies like these will filter down to game developers and give them hard numbers on how large the ablegamers community actually is.  The more concrete numbers we can hand them, the more likely they will be to take our needs and concerns more seriously.

 The whole story is fantastic and also discusses many other aspects of disability so you should really check it out  at

http://www.physorg.com/news159520294.html

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I sleep a lot these days. I do manage to check my e-mail at least once a day though. This afternoon I get into my account and I see 214 new e-mails waiting for me. Thats about 150 more than usual for that time of day. My IMs are blowing up. So many, so fast that I cant even answer one before I have another one pop up. "What could possibly be going on?"  I think to myself. After I abandon trying to answer IMs until they die down a bit,  I begin to open my mail up. I become sad and mad all at the same time.

 My friends, most of whom are Veterans, have swamped me and the volunteer groups that I belong too with correspondence over the governments proposition to start billing the 3rd party insurance companies of Veterans for treatment of service related injuries. There are so many things wrong with that - I think my head is going to explode.

 I read the story a few days ago about what Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki said regarding this very thing. He said that the Obama administration was indeed considering this plan. Also in the article were senators who said this plan wouldn't go through even if it were proposed. So I thought that this had been settled. Aparently many of my friends did too, since I didnt get this kind of reaction back then.

Today was a whole new ball game though.  Obama and his "team" met with 11 Veterans groups today. The largest of those is the American Legion. They tried to explain to this administration the many, many reasons this is a terrible idea. But it all seems to have fallen on deaf ears. The offical story from the AL is posted here http://ourvoice.legion.org/story/1448/legion-white-house-dont-bill-our-heroes  They can better explain exactly why this plan is total BS and their opposition to it. I encourage everyone to read it.

 On a personal note, I will share the thoughts from a good friend of mine as we discussed this plan today. His name is Scott and he is a Veteran. He told me  "I thought I already paid for my healthcare?! It cost me an arm and a leg!". That was his attempt at bringing some dark humor into a serious discussion and he did make me laugh.

The truth is, along with his arm and leg he also lost his right eye, his hearing and a large part of his jaw on the right side as well. If the VA billed his wifes insurance for the many treatments he needs to help with his service related injuries  - they project their family would hit their insurance cap within 3-4 months. Even if they only billed 50% of what it costs they would be out of insurance in 6-7 months.That means no more healthcare for him, his wife, or his 2 kids for the rest of the year. The only reason he is on his wifes insurance plan to begin with is to cover those non service related illnesses that the VA doesnt cover - and there are quite a few of those. Its a serious situation and a slap in the face of an honorable man who gave his all to our country when he was asked too. He deserves a country who will give its all for him.

How many "earmarks" did we just agree to fund that could more than make up the 540 million in revenue that charging the veterans is supposed to bring in? There are better ways to get money. There are certainly more honorable ways to get money. What has happened to us as a country when we think it's okay to even consider something like this - and while we are still at war no less!? Its a sad day for me, its a sad day for my friends. If it comes to fruition, we will be fighting the passage of this abomination with all we have. I just hope someone with some common sense will take the time to listen and stop the madness.  

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This December 13th  is the 9th anniversary of my most major MS attack - the one that left me permanently disabled on my right side. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis the very next day. It seems my body has kicked off the festivities a bit early this year though.

I woke up yesterday and my left hand was tingly and numb like I slept on it wrong. By lunchtime, my whole left side was numb/tingly and I lost most of my strength. It was hard to stand up, walk, or raise my left hand. This is the suck. So far, this is not as aggresive an attack as I had 9 years ago, but it pisses me off just the same.

 I seem to have gotten a lot of strength back after sleeping last night - which I was quite pleasantly surprised about. I guess I will choose to be happy about that and not dwell on the fact that I still cant really feel anything on that side very well right now.

Yes, the threat of further disability is something we have to consider as a possibility everyday - but it is something that I never want to think about too much. And yet here it is. I was so hopeful that being part of this new drug study would shield me from the MS a bit. I dont even know if Im on the med or the placebo. I was hopeful though, but not so much right now. I am just sad and mad mostly. I have been here before and its not a good place to be.

Perhaps this is just MS's way of reminding me it's still here and active 9 years later. This is just all the more reason to keep up the fight for the needs of all ablegamers. I need something to keep my mind off of all of this so I believe Im going to go gaming for the rest of the afternoon as best as I can with my gimpy hands. I feel like blowing things up and killing orcs. That always makes me feel better. Gaming therapy - mmmmmm.

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A huge thanks goes out to our user Onehandedbandit for taking the time to put this clip together for us.

 The video shows up close and personal how he manipulates the Madcatz Xbox 360 Microcon controller to play Halo 3 with just one hand. In case you missed it, he also has another blog post showing a wide screen version of him playing Halo 3 one handed and kicking ass, so check that out too it you haven't already. 

I cant wait until my controller finally gets here so I can try it out for myself! :)

[VIDEO:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWq4HD_CdmA]

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