Lorelei Root, Eagle's Flight, Digital Accessibility Specialist

Lorelei Root digital accessibility focus with a focus on video games. She shares her experience of becoming disabled due to multiple sclerosis. Having to learn to speak, read and write again, she used the few accessible video games to help provide the road back. This led her to her work consulting about and evangelizing the need for accessibility in video games. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Info about Accessibility at Blink

(bright music)

- Hello, this is digital accessibility,

the people behind the progress.

I'm Joe Wilinske, the creator and host of this series.

And as an accessibility professional myself,

I find it very interesting is to how others

have found their way into this profession.

So, let's meet one of those people right now

and hear about their journey.

(bright music)

- All right, well, here we are,

ready to do another podcast

where I get an opportunity to have a chat

with an accessibility practitioner.

And today, I am speaking with Lorelei Root.

Hello, Lorelei.

Hey, how are you doing today?

- Hi, I'm pretty good, thanks.

Trying not to melt in this heat wave we're having,

but otherwise, pretty good.

(Lorelei laughs)

- Well, where are you talking to us from?

- Guelph, Ontario.

Yeah, not too far outside of Toronto.

- All right, well, I'm at my home office

on (mumbles) island,

which is near Blinks Seattle headquarters.

And so, it's been hot here as well,

but not as much as other parts of the world,

but it's good to have you here as part of this.

And always a good place to start is

if you could tell us a little bit

about your current position

and the type of work that you're involved in.

- Sure, yeah.

So I work as a digital accessibility specialist

with a specific focus.

My career has had a specific focus

on video game accessibility.

Currently, I work for a company

that's actually does corporate training experiences,

but a lot of the same tools used in video game development.

I'm using to kind of help make sure that

all of their experiential learning

is as accessible as possible,

especially since it's gone virtual.

So, yeah, I work for a corporate training company

called Eagles Flight, right now,

where I'm their digital accessibility specialist,

but I also work on contract

for a few different game developers as well.

And I'm helping inform the design of video games

that are currently in the making.

- All right, that's a great to hear about that.

And I have some things I wanna ask

about your current activities,

but one of the things I always like to do in this program

is to kind of find out

where people got their start with work life,

live life for accessibility.

So kind of, open it up to you as to where to start

in terms of your career,

you know, what led you to your current career path.

- For myself, I am a disabled woman, myself.

I have multiple sclerosis

and some other health things as well,

and I had a massive ischemic stroke in 2014.

And that's really when I shifted my focus

from just video game development

to specifically video game accessibility.

And really, it kind of all started

because I was a little kid who liked to play games

and always wanted to work on games.

And then one day found myself unable to play games anymore

in 2014 at 24 years old,

and just kind of realized that there was so far we had to go

to making video games more accessible.

So I really shifted my focus at that time

to the accessibility side of things.

And part of that was just naturally as like, being disabled.

I really wanted to advocate for my own needs

and for the removal of barriers for my own experience.

And as it's gone on,

I've had the pleasure of working with

other disabled individuals

with different types of disabilities,

and kind of, been able to collaborate with them

on making sure that things are widely accessible

to people with a range of disabilities.

So, yeah, I think it all kind of started in 2014

when I had my stroke.

I had a massive ischemic stroke,

which was caused by a blood clot

and it blocked the blood flow to my brain.

So as a result of that, for a very long period of time,

I was unable to speak anymore.

I couldn't do most things that I used to enjoy doing,

but some of the big ones were difficulty with speaking,

difficulty with reading and writing.

I had the entire left side of my body was paralyzed

and I couldn't use it or feel it.

So all of a sudden,

I just couldn't do the thing

that I loved to do for fun anymore,

and it was really difficult.

And I had a speech language pathologist actually,

who would come to my home and try to help me

learn how to read again.

And she would bring me all of these materials

that most of the materials that are designed

to teach people how to read

are designed with five year olds in mind, right?

And it's really hard for me at the age of 24

to sit there and get invested

in trying to read a story about Polly the parrot

making friends at the zoo, right?

So I was having a really hard time,

and she was the one who was like,

let's figure out something you like

that can help you learn how to read again.

So we sat down and looked at my steam library of video games

on my computer, and there were thousands of games.

And we went through and tried to find

ones that I could do with minimal reading,

with no ability to type, and only one hand.

And the list from my thousands of games that I have

went down to like, three or four games,

but it was a start and we were able to,

kind of, get me started motivating myself to read.

We'd turn down the sound and turn on the subtitles

and see if I could still keep up with what was going on.

And it just really opened my eyes to the fact that,

like, video games have largely excluded disabled people

for a very long time.

And in the past 10 years or so,

there have been just really great strides

in video game accessibility.

So I've been really, really pleased

to be a part of that over the past decade.

- Well, yeah, thank you so much for,

you know, sharing that about your personal challenges,

and you obviously come in amazingly

an amazing way forward from that.

I was wondering, you know, before that happened,

were you on a, you know,

what kinda track were you on

in terms of your pursuit of education and career?

- I was just pursuing coding, video game coding.

I was working at the corporation

that I work for now, Eagles Flight.

They do these corporate trading games.

I was working for them and on the side was working

for some little Indie developer studios,

making video games and making some games myself for fun.

That was really the path that I was on.

And it just entirely shifted to

strictly accessibility focused after that.

And I have come a long way in terms of,

like, my ability to speak, for example.

I no longer struggle with aphasia like I did,

but because I have multiple sclerosis now,

that's a degenerative disease that gets worse over time.

So I don't know what parts of that

are going to enter my life again in the future.

And I'm really passionate about the removal of barriers,

not just for other people,

but also because I want to be able to still do things

in the future and

the way that the world is currently built,

there are a lot of things I might not be able to do

in five years, 10 years,

and I would like to remove those barriers

as much as possible.

Yeah, I think that people who have, like,

no ability to read,

I do have cognitive dysfunction still

that makes it difficult for me to read.

So I use a Screen Reader.

I'm a cited Screen Reader user,

and I use Voice to Text

because I have difficulty with,

yeah, still reading and writing.

And it's just amazing to me

how many areas of the world are inaccessible

and areas of video games and tech

that are inaccessible to people like me,

that it just is so simple to just make them accessible.

(Lorelei laughs)

- Well, I mean,

a lot of people that may not be involved in

accessibility directly, really don't understand

the importance of the use of Screen Readers

or for many people like yourselves

and people who may be blind or low vision,

and then just keyboard only access in that

that's a way to connect up other devices

to be able to interact with the computer.

And so I think we're,

you know, there's been some progress in that area,

but there's still a long way to go.

And in terms of, you know, your situation,

you know, after you had the stroke

and were on the road to recovery,

was there a time where you discovered accessibility

as a profession, separate from it being something that

you were hoping to help with your recovery

and your interests in gaming?

- Yeah, it really started with me

wanting to be able to play games

and contacting development studios and being like, look,

I have a career history in video game development,

I see a barrier here to people like me,

we can't play your game and I also know the fix,

and I would just reach out to development studios

and ask them to fix things.

And I was also streaming on Twitch a lot at the time.

And I kind of,

there was this built community of other people

who wanted to play games and also had disabilities

who came and would hang out in my Twitch streams.

And so I would become aware of more issues

and I gained a platform in a few different video games.

I became partnered with a few game development companies

as a Twitch streamer.

So I had a voice to speak for people

who would come to my stream and be like, I'm low vision

and I actually would really like to see this change.

A lot of colorblind folks being like,

I can't play this game.

I can't even watch you play it

because there's no colorblind mode.

So I was able to start advocating for people,

and that turned into why don't I do this,

you know, for my job?

Does anyone do this for their job?

Like, is there video game accessibility?

And I started reaching out

and connecting with other specialists in the industry

who do focus just on accessibility.

People like Ian Hamilton and Terra Volker and Bryce Johnson

and people who

were early days already talking about,

not early days, it should have been from square one

that were trying to make games accessible,

but it's really just been in the past 10 years or so.

And I found other game developers at conferences

and things like A11Y or LITO is a conference here in Canada

that happens every year

that's specifically about digital accessibility,

and they have a gaming only conference portion as well now

where a few days of the conference are all just about

video game accessibility, and I've met so many people there.

And then there's like GA comp overseas.

I would go to these conferences

that are focused on video game accessibility

and meet others in the industry

who work in video game development,

care about accessibility,

but maybe didn't know how to implement it.

And then also, I would meet people

who knew how to implement it and maybe didn't work in.

So we kind of, it became this hive mind collaborative thing,

and I'm still really good friends

with a lot of these colleagues

because we met at a time when

there wasn't a ton of discussion

around accessibility in video games,

and it's kind of grown from there to now

where there are studios like Ubisoft and Naughty Dog,

and there are just a lot of studios, and Xbox,

they have a huge focus now on accessibility

and they have teams that their entire job

is to just make games more accessible.

So yeah, I kind of evolved into the position of

a digital accessibility specialist

rather than just a video game developer

and a coder and a programmer

while the industry evolved.

We kind of evolved alongside each other,

which has been interesting.

And I was no by no means a trailblazer of that.

I got to kind of like,

follow the trail that other people had already set out.

- Well, you know, one of the things that you've been doing

which is extremely valuable is your advocacy,

your evangelism, and you know,

using your position to provide a voice for others

to these organizations, and that makes a difference.

You mentioned Xbox and Bryce Johnson is one of the people

that we've interviewed for this.

And, you know, Bryce was kind enough to invite to a host

our local Seattle inclusive design

and accessibility meetup group

at the accessibility lab on their campus.

And you see something like that

and it just shows a really,

you know, thoughtful approach

to, you know, bringing people in with various disabilities

to think out of the box about you,

about what gaming could be,

and also working through some of the hard problems.

- Yeah, Bryce Johnson is a phenomenal guy,

and honestly, I think all of the people that I've met

through my video game accessibility work

have been just really great people.

And it's an interesting dynamic to go to these conferences

over any other type of accessibility conference

or any other type of development conference

because meeting up with these people,

it's just such an empathy driven industry.

Everyone really cares about making sure that

everyone can access play, and joy, and entertainment,

and that's such a good vibe to be around.

And all of these people that I've met

don't just care about their job, you know?

Their job is not just a job.

And for me, it's the same.

It's like our jobs aren't just a way that we make our money

and have a 9-5.

We're also trying to make it a difference in people's lives,

as corny as that seems and sounds.

But as a disabled individual myself,

I know that the people who go out there

and make things more accessible to me

as a wheelchair user, for example,

I use a wheelchair and people who go out

and actually make those changes in the world

do have a real impact on my daily life, you know?

And I think, I mean Bryce Johnson, as an example,

a couple of years ago,

when my MS started to progress a little bit more rapidly

and I lost function in my left hand,

he reached out to me not as Bryce Johnson from Xbox,

but just as Bryce Johnson

who knows some people who knows some solutions.

We're not just looking at,

you know, only Microsoft solutions.

Here's another thing I heard of that might help you.

Here's another thing.

Like, what can we do to figure out a way

you can still play the games you love?

Like, we're all just in this

because we wanna make sure that

people can still access enjoyment.

There's this question that I get asked a lot

where people will say,

why do you focus on video game accessibility

rather than like legislative changes

and, you know,

making sure there's wheelchair access to buildings,

why something is frivolous as video games?

Like, why is that the thing

you're the most passionate about?

And I think there's this kind of idea

that video games are just a nice to have,

not a need to have.

It's like, you know,

it's just a thing that people can do for fun,

but if disabled people can't do it, too bad,

that's not the end of the world.

But in my experience, like,

the ability to connect with friends,

the ability to have a hobby and enjoy your life

and have fun and blow off steam,

like, that is a need to have.

This to me is as important as legislation

and access to voting and access to all these other things

that I do also care about and do also advocate for.

But this is just as important just because it's video games

and just because it's recreation

doesn't mean it's not something

that everyone needs to be able to access.

- Yeah I mean that people represent it that way,

it seems like really narrow view.

I mean the video game industry actually,

I believe dwarfs traditional cinema

in terms of the amount of money that's there and its reach.

And but if you look at what, you know,

with the cinema going to film houses,

for a long time, there's been accessibility

built in both in physical spaces,

but also in technology that's available

and the movies themselves for a long time,

you have been available with closed captions

in audible descriptions.

So there's no reason that

we shouldn't expect the video game industry

also be participating in those ways.

- Yeah, and there are some really brilliant people out there

who are coding just the most impressive things

into video games nowadays just for sheer enjoyment.

So taking those minds and those,

that level of talent and ability

and focusing it in on things like,

let's make sure people with disabilities

can play this game too,

there's just so much potential there.

- And so in terms of

the work that you're doing with video games

on a day to day basis,

like, what types of things are you involved in?

Are you providing feedback and consultancy?

Are there any particular tasks that you normally have

on a daily, weekly basis with your work?

- Yeah, I have a few projects ongoing right now.

Bear with me as I scan my mind for NDA.

- [Joe] No. - Information, sorry.

- [Joe] Sure.

(Lorelei laughs)

That's the one, the one thing about game development is

studios are very, very, very, very,

very intense with the NDAs.

- Yeah, no problem.

Yeah, I mean, you could just talk about it generally

if you want,

you know, the types of the activities you're involved in.

- Yeah, there, for the most part,

the most consulting work I do,

like, the most contract based work

that isn't for Eagles Flight,

which is my main job right now,

which I can talk about what I do there as well.

But most of the work that I'm doing for like, AAA studios

and things like that,

it's hiring me to look at barriers

and the removal of barriers in the mechanics of the game

and the mechanics of the gameplay.

So it might look like sending me a few copies of a game

to play through or developer access

to a not yet released game

to try it out and then raise any issues that I see.

Also, there's been a big push on just general education

for development studios and their staff.

So sometimes I'll get asked

to come speak to staff about like,

here are some of the common barriers I see

as a disabled gamer.

Here are some other things

that other people have let me know they see

as disabled gamers.

And then with looking at it through the lens of

having worked in game development myself,

I can offer some best practices.

So that's often kind of the work I do.

And then there's also things that are more social aspect.

And so sometimes, I'm brought in more

to talk about narrative of a game, to talk about the script,

whether or not there's too much ABLLS language

or like, any ABLLS language is too much,

but whether or not the language choices,

like, what are we saying to and about disabled people.

If we're gonna talk about disability in this game,

if we're gonna have disabled characters,

we should have representation.

Let's make sure it's realistic representation.

Let's make sure it's respectful representation.

Let's make sure that we're saying good things

to and about disabled players who wanna play this game

and let's make sure this game is accessible to the community

that we're representing with this character.

So if there's a blind character in a game,

that's great to have representation,

but it would really kind of be important

not to profit off the experience of blind people

and then not let them play your game

because it's not accessible to blind people.

So things like that, I often consult on as well.

It's kind of been all over the place.

Game development studios will just reach out and say,

look, we heard you did work with X studio.

We heard you speak at this conference.

We were wondering, we have this game idea.

We wanna put a disabled character in there.

What should that look like?

Can we run it by you what we're thinking?

Or we wanna have, we wanna do an initiative

for accessibility and gaming.

We wanna do a marketing campaign to show that like,

everyone should access games,

and we wanna make sure that we're not being disrespectful.

So can we run some of this by you?

So a lot of things like that.

It's kind of all over the place what I do,

but the main chunk is probably

the actual mechanics of a game,

the actual code of a game,

looking over that and saying like,

this functionally doesn't work.

People can't access this.

- Well, you refer to it as all over the place,

but to me it sounds like you've crafted very thoughtful

and comprehensive approach

to a lot of different, important aspects.

You know, as, one of the things that,

another thing I always like to ask about is

you know, people's thoughts about the future.

You know, we can always kind of,

look around us and see things that,

you know, we think could be better,

we're hopeful that could be better.

There are also things that we may be,

you know, looking forward to in the future personally,

to be working on for our own satisfaction

and for the, to help others.

Are there any of those areas,

you know, looking forward

that you're particularly interested in

or concerned about in terms of getting done?

- Yeah, I definitely,

there are definitely some big gaps that I see

in the current situation

of accessibility in gaming in general.

And specifically, I think

there's so much cool potential in augmented reality

and virtual reality gaming.

So, like, VR headsets,

that immersive gaming experience,

and largely, that's inaccessible

to people with disabilities.

I was on a panel recently with some others

who also all are disabled individuals

with a range of disabilities

and we were talking about gaming,

and all of us were like VR gaming

just feels like it's something that we don't get to do.

It's like, that's not for disabled people.

And I don't wanna live in a world

where there's anything that it's like,

that's not for disabled people.

Everything should be for us too.

So I would really love to see a push in,

so games like Pokemon Go with the augmented reality,

where you're walking around and using GPS

to interact with this game, not everyone can do that.

There are people who aren't able to do all of those things.

And during the pandemic,

they changed their game entirely to make it more possible

to play from home where you still could go out

and go for walks and meet up with people.

But you also could experience most of the game

just sitting in your home.

And a lot of us with disabilities

started playing during the pandemic.

And then now, as they're scaling those accommodations back,

they're saying, Oh, the pandemic is over, which it's not,

but they are saying it is and they're saying,

so let's scale this back and get back to normal.

Well, normal, it's only normal based on

a nondisabled person's standards.

So it would be really great to see.

And then in terms of VR gaming with the headsets and things,

there are so many of us, like, when I'm in my wheelchair,

if I am playing a game with my Oculus Quest, for example,

I have one, and there are so few games I can play

where I'm sitting in one spot.

You have to kind of move around, which is great.

It's great to have that option.

And I'm not saying we should do away with that in games,

because for people who can do it,

I'm sure that's incredibly fun.

But for me, if I'm, if it's a day

that I'm using my wheelchair,

I need to use my hands to move.

So I can't shoot and walk at the same time.

I can't paint a picture and move around at the same time.

I need to use my hands.

So I end up like, shooting at the ground in a circle

as I'm trying to move and run away from enemies.

It would be great to have options

that make those types of games also playable

by disabled people.

So I'm hoping that some people

with more knowledge of VR gaming

get into that space in terms of accessibility,

because unfortunately I have no idea how to code a VR game.

I have no idea how to actually work in that space,

but I'd love to see change there for sure.

I'd also see, love to see a lot more change

that's like intersectional.

I'd love to see a focus,

not just on like making games more accessible

to just people with disabilities,

but also to remember that people with disabilities

come in all shapes and sizes and colors,

and they're like, there's and all racial backgrounds.

So, you know,

my experience as a white disabled person

is different than the experience of a disabled black person

or person of color or indigenous person.

And that gets lost in the conversation sometimes.

And a lot of panels that I've been on

that have had some racial diversity,

it's really highlighted how the experiences of

white, disabled players and black disabled players

or CIS disabled players and trans disabled players

are just really different.

So I personally would like to see more of a focus on

remembering that we're not a monolith.

And if we're going to just try to,

I've had corporations have me sit down

and try to narrow down

who are we trying to make this game accessible for?

Let's build a character,

let's build an avatar of a person

that is the person we're trying to,

like, are they, like, what are they like?

Are they a blind person?

Are they a, and it's like,

let's not narrow the focus so much

when we're making things accessible,

let's make them accessible to as wider range of people

with a ton of different experiences.

And that means centering the voices of people

who have those experiences

and making sure we're consulting with them

and involving them in the process.

- Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you.

You've given me a lot to think about,

I've learned a lot myself

about things I hadn't considered before,

and it's really great to see, you know,

all the work that you're doing in advocacy for this area.

And you mentioned conferences,

and in the olden days before the pandemic,

I used to love to go to conferences,

and maybe we'll meet up at an accessibility conference

at some point.

- That'd be great.

I do miss the networking part of conferences,

but since the pandemic,

it's been easier to attend conferences as a disabled person

because for me anyway, for my set of disabilities,

it's been a lot easier

'cause I can watch things later at my own pace

or I can, you know, just stay in my home.

So yeah, it's been interesting,

but it will be good

to get back to that social networking aspect.

- All right, thank you very much, Lorelei.