About AbleGamers.com

AbleGamers.com is the outreach / web presents of The AbleGamers Foundation, Inc. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity in the state of West Virginia. We moved from a private venture to the non-profit as of Feb 27, 2007.  AbleGamers is paid for out of pocket and from the few donation we take in. Everything you see on this site from the news to the graphics is volunteer work.

AbleGamers.com is a site that is dedicated to the disabled gamer, causal or hardcore. We are here to offer a safe place for any gamer with any disability to explore, to find news on games that has the disabled gamer in mind, and to meet others, and solve issues as a team, and a family.

Why Gaming Accessibility Important?

Mainstream videogame producers develop games, and forget that that not everyone in the world approaches a game the same way. Did you know that 1 out of every 5 people in the United States is classified as disabled. The 2000 Census counted 49.8 million people with disabilities, or 19.3% of the civilian non-institutionalized population aged 5 and over. There are 8.6 million in the United Kingdom according to the Disabled Rights Commission, alone. Think of the number of potential buyers you are leaving out.

When you start looking at the 65 and older population, 1 in 3 are disabled. You are not getting any younger, and the demographic for the average gamer is not staying young, it is 34. Everyday more and more gamers find themselves in the category of disabled.

PopCap recently commissioned a survey of their users, and found that a shocking 20% of those surveyed fell into the category of disabled. It is estimated that when you move out of the causal game space, and into the hardcore game space, that number is somewhere around 10%. That means that 10% of your clan member, guild members, forum friends, and that dude you just ganked is somehow disabled.

Let's put a cash value to it, if the worldwide gaming market is going to worth an estimated $57 billion in 2009, and 10% of the gaming market it disabled, that means that a game maker that does not look at the disabled gamer is leaving about $5.7 billion on the table.

How You Can Help

The most simple thing you can do is register for the site and joint he conversation. You do not have to be disabled to offer support and advice.

Donate

The AbleGamers Foundation is always looking for help in funding and expanding our mission. For more information on how you can help, please send a message here.

Donation of Equipment or Games

If you have a game you would like for us to review, send us a copy. We will be more than happy to put it through its paces. If you need advice on how to make a game more accessible, we can help you there as well. Drop us a note. Our mailing address is, The AbleGamers Foundation, 9 Wren Lane, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425