New AbleGamers program aims to educate devs & foster a more inclusive industry

AbleGamers has announced a new initiative that aims to make its Accessible Player Experience Practitioner (APXP) course and the knowledge contained within more accessible to marginalized game developers. 

That newly announced Developers Promoting Accessibility & Diversity Initiative (DPAD) aims to place more game developers who are disabled, people of color, women, or members of the LGBTQIA+ community into APXP course sessions.

So far, 100 developers have participated in AbleGamers’ APXP sessions since the course debuted in October 2019. On its own, the course aims to teach game developers how to foster a culture of accessibility in their own studios, use player-driven research to identify accessibility barriers, and keep accessibility at the heart of development even early on into a project. 

Now in tandem with the Developers Promoting Accessibility & Diversity Initiative, the AbleGamers team says the added hope is that a wider pool of marginalized developers will be able to benefit from the course while also enriching the program as a whole by bringing more voices into each course’s attendee pool.

"Through the DPAD Initiative, we hope to see that support extended to developers from other marginalized communities,” reads a statement from AbleGamers lead games researcher Greg Haynes. “We're hoping to create a diverse diaspora of game developers who are bastions of accessibility in an industry that's increasingly seeing the importance of accessible design practices.”

“Not only is the completion of the APXP Course a resume distinguisher, but it also presents a unique opportunity to interact with other developers through the community of APX Practitioners we're building with each course. DPAD Initiates will be on the front lines of opportunity. As we train dozens of initiates each year, we'll hopefully begin to shift the dynamics of inequality and under-representation in this space."

Details on how to apply for the DPAD initiative can be found here.