Safe In Our World celebrates the positive, impactful voices in games industry accessibility + FREE Toolkit

For Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Safe In Our World launches a toolkit for workplace accessibility, centralising resources and insights from inclusion advocates across the games industry.

Global Accessibility Awareness Day is designed to get people talking, thinking, and learning about accessibility and inclusion. We’ve teamed up with Level Up Partner, Easy Surf, and Safe In Our World Patron, Radderss, to create a toolkit that supports games industry employers – helping them to foster greater accessibility for disabled employees in the workplace.

The International Game Development Association’s 2023 developer satisfaction survey saw 44% of respondents identify as having either a physical or mental difference.

“Our main goal in working on this toolkit is just to provide information,” says Sky Tunley-Stainton, Partnerships & Training Manager. “I know there are a lot of folks out there who want to do more but just don’t know where to start, or where to find the right information. Even for disabled people themselves, if they’ve never had accommodations before, they might not even know what to ask for. So this toolkit provides that really solid foundation of information that can be built upon.”

Change the game for workplace accessibility

We recognise that change takes time, but we also know it costs nothing to be kind. That’s why we’ve spent time creating this toolkit with a focus on social accessibility at work.

87% of disabled people have experienced negative attitudes or behaviours which impact their daily lives. Challenging ableism and changing the perception of disabled people in the workplace is something you can start immediately.

Some accessibility recommendation include:

• Offering a flexible working schedule
• Arranging training and workshops (which we can provide or recommend)
• Speak with your disabled employees (and be ready to listen to all types of feedback)
• Embrace assistive technologies
• Make sure your company events are inclusive

About the accessibility toolkit

The Workplace Accessibility Toolkit aims to provide guidance around what accessibility can look like across different organisations, as well as signposting to further information and support.

You will find vital information and advice, covering hiring, onboarding, and training; day-to-day job functions; and the social aspect of work. Discover tips on gathering valuable feedback from your employees. Review your hiring processes with expert insights on accessible candidate journeys. Identify opportunities to improve social accessibility in your workplace!

Amplifying existing accessibility resources

Accessibility resources exist, and have existed, for a while. We want to recognise all the efforts of accessibility advocates and disability rights activists on this Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

When creating this toolkit, we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. We wanted to pull together the valuable insights of countless accessibility advocates, to centralise those tools and resources into one accessible, actionable document.

Our toolkit is not only led by experts on disability inclusion, but includes links to further resources, covering topics like inclusive language, software and communication tools, and insights on how you can implement changes at work.

Where to start

Accessibility can be overwhelming – but it’s essential not to allow this to prevent you from starting somewhere! And a good place to start is downloading our toolkit.

It’s designed to provide information and guidance suitable for companies of all sizes. If you’re just starting out, use the toolkit to build a strong foundation of accessibility at your company. If you’re an established studio, this toolkit can help you understand where you’re getting things right, and where there’s still room for improvement!

Remember, you don’t need to do everything straight away: perhaps start by looking through the toolkit and identifying the “easy wins.”

• Download the Workplace Accessibility Toolkit in PDF format.
• Download the Workplace Accessibility Toolkit in Word format.

Staying informed and connected

While we believe our toolkit will provide an excellent introduction to accessibility in the workplace, and offer valuable insights and recommendations across many aspects of inclusivity at work, the journey begins here.

One of the best ways you can support disabled people in the workplace, and be an effective ally in creating more inclusive working environments, is by becoming and staying informed. And we’ve got so many recommendations for how to do just that.

Special Effect

Our friends at Special Effect are working tirelessly, using innovative technology to bring the joy of video games to the lives of physically disabled people across the world. We hope you’ll consider following their work and supporting their mission.

Nothing Without Us

Nothing Without Us is a non-profit created by disabled gamers with the aim to increase inclusion for disabled industry professionals and content creators in games. Focusing on education and improving accessibility of gaming events, they champion disability representation in the games industry. This toolkit was co-authored by a member of their team.

AbleToPlay

AbleToPlay is a free game-changing platform that allows users to quickly find accessible games based on their personal needs, listening to your must-haves and nice-to-haves to match you with games you’ll enjoy.

IGDA Game Accessibility SIG

For those eager to learn more about accessibility in games, we’d recommend the IGDA Game Accessibility SIG. As a specialist interest group for members of the International Game Development Association, they regularly share ideas, resources and best practice. They also host GAconf EU and GAconf US – events dedicated to advancing the field of accessibility in games development.

This section could go on forever, because we’re not kidding when we tell you there are so many amazing advocates out there doing their bit for accessibility in games. Download our toolkit and look for Further Reading to discover many more resources and organisations that informed or inspired our toolkit.

Next steps to an inclusive games industry

We hope you’re feeling motivated to make positive changes to our games industry, and we don’t wanna waste that momentum. So here’s a few things you can do right now that will help drive change and shift perspectives.

• Share this toolkit in your work Slack/Teams or wherever the conversations happen
• Go follow the friends we mentioned above on social media
• Help amplify our own social media posts to bring this toolkit to more people
• Sign up to the Special Effect newsletter
• Visit the Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) website for more insights