There have been some discussions about accessibility at LRP recently and we wanted to address what we’re doing to improve accessibility within No Heaven.
Part of the issue has been that those affected by the issues haven’t felt able to address the accessibility issues they’ve seen for a variety of reasons which has only highlighted the issue for us as a game team. It’s something unseen that needs to be actively worked on.
For those of us who are largely able, there is a culture of assuming that things are accessible until proven otherwise. For those who are not, they may be remaining silent because it’ll never change. One of the problems is that it won’t change unless people do point it out: accessibility won’t improve whilst there’s no one making sure it does.
It’s in that vein that I’m delighted to remark that No Heaven’s game team includes Meg who will be keeping an eye on the game and ensuring that ableist tendencies don’t stop us from running a game suitable for anyone who chooses to take part. We want to make No Heaven as accessible as we can, and Meg’s going to be taking point on making that happen.
We acknowledge without reservation that most of the game team are inherently ableist. We don’t mean to be, but it’s a hard set of unseen prejudices that’s hard to overcome. The hobby is generally highly active and that’s the sort of game we’ve tended to engage in. But we also acknowledge that not everyone is capable of that level of activity, nor is capable of doing everything a “normal” LRPer can do. There are a range of issues that can affect anyone from any station in life and our game team has a mix of them from severe mental health issues to debilitating physical conditions.
Our priority is running an awesome game, but that doesn’t mean we have to discount accessibility. I can’t promise we’ll be perfect, but I can promise that we’ll try our best. We are actively looking to make our game more accessible to everyone who wants to play. If you think we could do better, let us know and we’ll take your feedback on board but we can’t read minds. If we’ve accidentally put an ableist barrier in place (and it will be accidental), we need to be told it’s there before it can be fixed.