text: It’s a new year, and the ADA Amendments Act is now in effect. These Amendments are a response to the Supreme Court’s erosion of protections and rights in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 over the years (see Sutton et. al vs. United Air Lines, Inc, Murphy vs. United Parcel Service, Inc.. The Supreme Court argued that, if a person’s condition is controlled with “mitigating measures”—medication for high blood pressure, for instance—the person does not have a disability…even if that person is fired or otherwise discriminated against because of their condition).
  The Amendments spell out just what “disability” means, but what’s most interesting is the wide variety of things the act defines as “major life activities”. They “include, but are not limited to, caring for oneself, performing manual tasks, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working.” They also involve “the operation of a major bodily function, including but not limited to, functions of the immune system, normal cell growth, digestive, bowel, bladder, neurological, brain, respiratory, circulatory, endocrine, and reproductive functions.”
  What do these specifications mean for gamers? As Suzanne Robitaille writes in For the Disabled, More Power for Play, the Amendments “will also clarify that a major life activity doesn’t just include work. The act expands this definition to include communicating, reading, and other activities of central importance — such as plain old fun.”
  While the ADA Amendments Act doesn’t specify play as a major life activity, its recognition that life is about more than working, going to school and taking care of oneself excites me. Not because I want to see more people punished, but because, as autistic advocate Joel Smith puts it, access is about privileges as well as rights:
  [A] school needs to be inclusive…well, inclusive for basic education anyhow. But often [school administrations] don’t see the need for inclusion in advanced academic programs, specialized vocational programs, sports, or other areas. Nobody has the ‘right’ to play basketball, after all – or at least that seems to be what is communicated.
  The ethical basis of inclusion, however, isn’t dependent upon whether some activity is a basic ‘right’ or a ‘privilege’. Inclusion is for all activities (and all organizations, even ones that see themselves as providing something other than a ‘right’). No, I’m not saying that someone who lacks basketball talent should be allowed to play varsity high school basketball – of course not. But someone that has talent should be able to. Even if accommodation is needed.
  Here’s hoping that the ADA Amendments Act is a harbinger of more resources, ideas and options for making games accessible in 2009.
  (Crossposted at GameCritics.com)
  Rate this:
  Share this:
  Twitter
  Facebook
  Like this:
  Like Loading...
  Related
  Posted in disabilities, video games | Tagged ADA amendments act | Leave a Comment	
  Comments RSS
  Leave a Reply Cancel reply
  Enter your comment here...
  Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:
  Email (Address never made public)
  Name
  Website
  You are commenting using your WordPress.com account.	( Log Out / Change )
  You are commenting using your Google account.	( Log Out / Change )
  You are commenting using your Twitter account.	( Log Out / Change )
  You are commenting using your Facebook account.	( Log Out / Change )
  Cancel
  Connecting to %s
  Notify me of new comments via email.
  Notify me of new posts via email.
  Δ
  RSS feed
  Me, in brief:
  Name: Tera
  Age: 30
  Sex: No
  Identities: Cissexual. White. Female. Disabled. Autistic cousin. Queer. Nebraskan. Gamer. Drive-in mutant. Drawer of bad pictures. Writer.
  Diagnoses: Periventricular Leukomalacia (PVL). Nonverbal learning disability (NLD). Anxiety. Depression. Dysmenorrhea.
  Favorite proprietary OS: Mac OS X
  Favorite open source OSes: Darwin (Mac-flavored Unix), Debian
  blogging books disabilities drawings essays memes mistakes i've made monsters! movies open thread! poetry reviews TV Uncategorized video games words that annoy me
  Twittering:
  Fashion trending��your eyes should choose rbyiq,com https://t.co/mcrKtu7ng9 4 years ago
  OMG I got mentioned in the @GameCritics proto-podcast! I feel so loved! 10 years ago
  Posted: #Transcript of @AutismWomen's interview w/ Valerie Paradiz: http://bit.ly/fV60M1 10 years ago
  Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.
  WPThemes.
  Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.