Xbox Celebrates the Disability Community

It is an honor to be a part of this amazing disability community. As part of this amazing community, we are proud to be there for you. We have dedicated our lives and careers to making gaming more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. We have put a lot of effort into gaming on all platforms to make it more inclusive. Education and connection are the key ingredients. To make sure that everyone on the team understands what being a member of the disability community means, we have made it a priority to educate our employees within Xbox and Microsoft. To help team members better appreciate the importance of this work to the community that depends on it, we bring in experts speakers and teachers. For example, we offer courses in American sign language (ASL) and an intro to deafculture workshop. These types of training have had an impact and we offer advice to others who are disabled, both visible and invisible, on ways to be more supportive.

Understanding is only possible through education. This goal is linked to Microsoft’s ambition to create a welcoming, joyful environment for gamers with disabilities at Microsoft. We want to hire and attract more individuals from the disability community. These people not only have the skills, but they also bring lived experience that will help us create the best environment possible for all our participants. Another critical part of our work is creating safe spaces where people can feel free to be their authentic selves, they can come as they are and be with others who don’t just empathize but understand.  In order to bring people together, we organize movie nights, coffee chats and game nights. These relationships are vital, particularly after the last year of feeling isolated.

This is how we can make positive changes to our products, and the way that external audiences interact with Xbox. We continually come back to our guiding principle: If you don’t intentionally include, you unintentionally exclude. This is how we keep our focus on providing joy and connection for gamers of all abilities and the disability community.

As we support and celebrate those with disabilities, Xbox and Microsoft Gaming invite you to join us. These are just a few of the many ways that we’ll be raising awareness and celebrating October.

Donate

One Special Rematch: Rare and Playground Games Face Off on the Football Pitch to Benefit SpecialEffect’s One Special Day Event!

Teams from Xbox Game Studios, Rare, and Playground Games, are set to play One Special Rematch on October 1, battling on the pitch to be Xbox Game Studios’ most skilled studio at soccer – all in the name of charity! SpecialEffect UK is the charity which uses games and technology in order to increase quality of life for people with disabilities.  Microsoft Rewards for Xbox will allow you to support SpecialEffect’s One Special Day Campaign starting October 1, (US), and then becoming available in the UK mid-October.

You can watch the video AboveLearn more about SpecialEffect and the amazing work they do to support gamers with disabilities. SpecialEffect has a One Special Day of Fundraising for Rare and Playground Gaming. Donate today to SpecialEffect!

Watch the broadcast at 6:00 PM BST on Twitch.TV/Xbox. Join in the fun! Find out more information about this event on Xbox Wire.

Microsoft Rewards for Xbox

Microsoft Rewards Members in the United States have the option to donate points towards organizations that support the disabled community via Xbox.

• SpecialEffect – A UK based CharityThe charity uses games and technology to increase the quality of lives for people with disabilities worldwide. The Xbox Community can donate their rewards points to support SpecialEffect’s One Special Day campaign!
• The AbleGamers Foundation – An organization that creates opportunities that enable play in order to combat social isolation, foster inclusive communities, and improve the quality of life for people with disabilities.
• Warfighter Engaged – An organization whose mission is to improve the lives of severely injured and disabled warfighters with custom adapted video game controllers, recreational items and other solutions to provide greater independence.

Xbox users can get Microsoft Rewards points by playing and purchasing Xbox games. You can redeem points for real rewards. Join today and donate through Xbox. 

Explore

Xbox Accessibility Showcase  

As part of Xbox celebrating the Gaming & Disability Community, on October 1, Xbox will host Xbox Accessibility Showcase video. This experience will begin with a video that showcases the contributions of Xbox to making gaming fun and accessible for all. This video will showcase some of the best accessibility efforts done so far, incredible community stories and announce new accessibility features for Xbox users. It also highlights future plans by the team. The show will demonstrate Xbox’s ongoing dedication to accessibility, continuously evolving and working with the Gaming & Disability Community to improve the inclusiveness of its products and services to welcome all players. Check out the video.You can find out more details about the accessibility improvements and features announced by the Xbox Accessibility Showcase.

Minecraft: Education Edition Showcases Microsoft’s Neurodiversity Hiring Program

To create a video case study about the Microsoft Neurodiversity Hiring Programme, The Minecraft Education Team collaborated with Microsoft Inclusive Hiring to produce a collaboration video. Minecraft Education EditionThe following is a list. This video shares that story, and how group participation in a set of customized Minecraft challenges presents an opportunity for neurodivergent candidates to show valuable skills in competency areas like teamwork, creative problem-solving, leadership, and communication. In conjunction with NDEAM 2021 (National Disability Employment Awareness Month) and to celebrate the Minecraft Disability Community, we’re sharing this video along with a playbook, available to all organizations, to encourage widespread adoption of inclusive hiring processes for neurodivergent candidates. It will appear in the GA Conference’s talk on October’s Xbox Accessibility Moment, as well as in an article at Minecraft: Education Edition.

Check out Game Accessibility Conference 2021, GaConf

Microsoft is proud to be a Gold Sponsor for the Game Accessibility Conference (GaConf) 2021, a free, online public conference dedicated to making accessible games and elevating the voices of  players and developers with disabilities. This conference will feature a session about the Minecraft Inclusive Hiring Program and accessibility in horror gaming.

Xbox Plays Honors World Sight Day October 14

On Thursday October 14 from 11am – 12:30pm PT, in recognition of World Sight Day, Xbox Plays hosts a streaming stream that will include creator SightlessKombat. He will be on-screen The Vale: Shadow of the CrownThe audio-only video game ‘The Blind and Low-Vision Gamer’ is available. Xbox Plays will feature streamer takeovers to raise awareness for disability the week of Oct 18-22. Join the fun at https://www.twitch.tv/Xbox!

Play

Microsoft Casual Games celebrates game accessibility ​​

By making games more available and accessible, players around the world can enjoy free-to-play game experiences. Through FAQs, social posts, and in-game messages – players will discover how to enable high contrast mode, turn on audio narration, use keyboard navigation, and engage with vision assist content & features in Microsoft Casual Games. You can find out more about it here.  Get involved in the fun of Microsoft Casual Games.

Sea of ThievesWe continue to focus on accessibility for players

More than 52% of the initial launch’s customers have been re-accredited since then. Sea of Thieves updates have included accessibility features or improvements — most recently, such updates have enabled features such as single-stick play and narrated emotes. More information about Sea of Thieves’This is the commitment to accessibility.

Xbox Community Game Club showcases games Accessibility Features