It's been a busy awards season already. We take a look at the growing number of accessibility awards in the games industry, and what we have to look forward to next year. Congratulations and thanks to all the winners and nominees for making a difference! caniplaythat.com/2025/12/31/a...

Happy New Year!!! ❤️🥂🍾🎆

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Pundits are framing the welfare bill chaos as Downing Street’s failure to communicate the moral case for cuts - but there is no moral case. That’s the problem. These plans are staggering assaults on support that won’t help disabled people into work. No one can sell that.

I’m sorry, the DWP announcing “don’t worry, the benefits u-turn means only 150,000 people will be pushed into poverty now!” is just insane. Cruel, incompetent ghouls who shouldn’t be allowed to run a bath let alone a system sick people rely on to live.

‼️ MPs vote tomorrow on the #WelfareReformBill. They must vote to #Scrap TheCuts. Email your MP today and tell them to vote against this cruel bill. takingthepip.co.uk/write-to-you... #TakingThePip #DisabilityBenefits

Thank you Zak Ford-Williams @zfw.bsky.social Listen to the whole of this brilliant podcast episode here : rampsonthemoon.co.uk/podcast-epis...

More than 40 Labour MPs have warned Keir Starmer that planned disability cuts are “impossible to support”, @jessicaelgot.bsky.social @peterwalker99.bsky.social exclusively reports. It sets up Starmer for the biggest rebellion of his premiership next month. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Four years on an iPhone in bed later, Who Wants Normal? is finally out in the world today. Part memoir, part guide, it features 50+ of Britain’s best known disabled women. I hope it makes you laugh, possibly cry, and feel seen. Order all formats here: linktr.ee/WhoWantsNormal

[New blog post] Are CSS Carousels accessible sarasoueidan.com/blog/css-car... In this post, I share some important insights from examining the accessibility of CSS-only carousels that use new features introduced in the #CSS Overflow Module Level 5 spec. #a11y

There’s a few… - Voiceover isn’t announcing the state changes. - Nothing moves focus into the content when expanded auto closes when focus leaves the region. - Everything seems to flatten header semantics inside the <summary> element. I can kinda understand 3, but the rest are baffling.

Oh my god

Hi friends! We are launching our first virtual hangout on Zoom this month for anyone w/ chronic illness to come & make friends! ✨🤍 Sign up below & I’ll try to pick the best day & time for everyone! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

My friend Kurt Yaeger, known for his role in Sons of Anarchy, has released a new short story. #Disability #axschat youtu.be/I1gcN0_cz4w

A6. As Sir Ken Robinson said, “If you think of it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university entrance.” If you don’t fit the bill you are gently pushed to one side. youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY?... #AXSChat

A6. Ableism. People grow up being taught, often with gradual subconscious messaging, that nothing should be expected from disabled people. The twin of this is that when disabled people achieve something it is seen as miraculous. An anomaly. Both are harmful and work in tandem. #AXSChat

A5. I think as a manager of two teams with neurodivergent and disabled members I was always doing some sort of accessibility project with an audience of one. Whether this was removing a lightbulb or getting the volume of security gate alarms turned down because they were breaking someone. #AXSChat

A3 I would say it is pretty important. Stories bind the past, present & future. We need to identify what we value & and how that aligns us with identity & that of our group. "People like us do things like this" as @sethgodin.bsky.social is known to say. #AXSChat

#bridgerton #ShondaLand #Netflix

A4 Disabled actors in period dramas like Bridgerton challenge false narratives. We’ve always been part of history—representation just makes it visible. #AXSChat

A4. Disability Casting and Portrayal guidelines medium.com/@garethfordw... Disability casting and portrayal guidelines #AXSChat #disability #casting

A4 proper representation of people with disabilities in media would mean we have nearly 20% of all roles instead of the smattering we have now. Disability is mainstream and should be represented as such not a special character. #AXSChat

A2 I like the idea of having representation & ensuring that there is a diversity of people represented. Age, ability, color, religion, orientation, are all things that impact most modern businesses. Reminding people of that in advertising & service delivery matters. #AXSChat

A3. Anecdotes are how data and statistics become people and lives that we can connect to and understand. It’s easy to read data about a lot of people and understand the logic of it, but hearing a personal story about #a11y has impacted someone's life and can grant deeper understanding. #AXSChat

New #axschat Video: The Father-Son Journey Through Accessibility & Acting. The BBC iPlayer was launched in 2007 with screen reader accessibility, closed captions, & audio description. 20 years later, Zak appears on the very platform his father Gareth helped make accessible vimeo.com/1070490497?s...

Boosting as #AXSChat Is a valuable resource for accessibility information.

This is an #AXSChat 10th unbirthday we wanted to welcome back our first ever guest @[email protected] to celebrate 10years but in typical style we are a few months late.

Q2 The relationship between users and brands is vital. How can companies ensure they maintain inclusive relationships with their audience throughout the different life stages? #AXSChat

Q1 inclusive gaming was the catalyst for @GarethFW to start his journey in #accessibility. Game accessibility has evolved over time. What are some features or improvements you'd like to see in games to make them more accessible for all ages? #AXSChat

Looking forward to tonight's chat, 8pm GMT about disability casting and portrayal. @axschat.bsky.social vimeo.com/1070490497?s... #accessibility #a11y

Told to rewrite a pitch to exclude DEIA? Explain why you won't and walk away if necessary. If you don't have that privilege, here are some alternatives - Expands market reach - Reduces customer experience barriers - Maximizes appeal with untapped user segments I hate that I live in this world now.

The ESA and industry partners announced the Accessible Games Initiative at GDC today. This industry-wide initiative provides a unified collection of accessibility tags, intended to help players more easily find out if a game is accessible to them. caniplaythat.com/2025/03/20/a...

This was a lot of fun to do.

OFFICIAL RELEASE: Star Trek and Disability; Volume 1 - The Trouble With Cripples. A short zine made by disabled academics critiquing the utopian vision of Star Trek—FREE to read here: files.libcom.org/files/2024-1... OR linktr.ee/disabilityark

Thanks to @martinlewis.moneysavingexpert.com, I've just avoided the £30 price hike for my Microsoft 365 subscription. Who wants crappy A.I. tools built in to these products? I certainly don't. www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/02...

@horrorcriticsgroup.bsky.social If you have any disabled members we would love to have them contribute to our Horror & Disability zine : bsky.app/profile/rich...

"Before you start planning to cancel accessibility at your business... let’s discuss why that would be a terrible idea." The current state of accessibility regulation in the US. www.a11yquest.com/blog/2025-01... @micmath.me.uk from @a11yquest.bsky.social #accessibility

today during my morning run instead of my usual peloton class or a podcast i listened to the sermon by rev mariann budde it made me think it would do me good and be morally grounding to regularly attend a non denominational church perhaps you want to listen too? youtu.be/xwwaEuDeqM8?...

I’m loving the Tim Hunkin videos on YouTube. Brilliant explanations of tech with many silly demos & charming style :) youtu.be/yuUyt9RG7pk?... His co-presenter Rex also designed & build Brum! So is automatically a hero in my life :) What a brilliant pair :)

Blwyddyn newydd dda!

You are welcome - along with @akwyz.bsky.social and @debraruh.bsky.social I run @axschat.bsky.social which has been a long running chat on Twitter and podcast. We like to build communities.

“God bless us every one!”

My 2024 Digital #Accessibility legal update for 3Play Media is now online, along with the slide deck and the transcript of the webinar. For free. As always, all feedback welcomed. www.3playmedia.com/resources/re...

Research term of the day is “confirmation bias”. The tendency for people to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information that confirms one’s pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. Confirmation bias can impair our ability to think critically and objectively... about things like fonts.

This is something I’ve sweated over a lot, and while it’s straightforward to say “give users choice,” (already AAA) there is a huge amount of research and debate needed to quantitatively define what “dark mode” even means. Maybe any presentation where the foreground is lighter than the background??

I'll go further and not recommend to use OpenDyslexic. Research has shown it can help some but also hurt readibility for others Choose an easily readable font instead. Research shows better results. More info here: medium.com/the-readabil... The all website is a gold mine. @garethfw.bsky.social

And here it is. My great grandmother’s Swiss music box from 1889. It hasn’t played for over 70 years.

Road trip to Gloucestershire to collect G’s dad’s renovated music box. Brought my own tea to a moto and wondering if the sharp, double wrist-flick of a flask lid out the door of a parked car is a dying art.

Poor me.