March Monthly Update

26 March 2010

It’s a good one so grab a cup of tea and read on...

2010 has started really well with heaps of support coming from lots of different angles and with us getting new projects and fundraising initiatives off the ground.

GameBase – SpecialEffect launched the GameBase project in January. An accessible GameBase for disabled and able bodied people to share their accessible gaming knowledge and find out information from the SpecialEffect team. As well as being a great resource for anyone who wants to access computer games it is becoming a great gaming networking community where people are making friends and sharing tips to help others. Visit www.gamebase.info

GameOn4Everyone – SpecialEffect launched The ‘GameOn4Everyone’ Roadshows in February thanks to funding from GamesAid. We have had three successful Roadshows with KEEN in Oxford from their primary age up to young adult groups with carnival and competition themed sessions. We are looking forward to working with other clubs and going into hospices in the Thames Valley throughout 2010. This weekend the SE team and volunteers will be promoting ‘GameOn4Everyone’ with a stand at a volunteers celebration awards evening in Oxfordshire to recruit new volunteers for this project.

Karate Kid – Did anyone see Mick Donegan on BBC 2 on ‘Karate Kids’ two weeks ago? If not you see the Eye-Gaze segment here:

Karate Kids - Tobii Eye Control from walshbros on Vimeo.

Mick was featured visiting one of the disabled children, Tim, with an eye gaze machine and allowing him to have a voice for the first time. Not only that but Tim also plays the guitar and ‘Connect Four’ on adapted computer programs. The ‘Karate Kids’ programme as a whole unique glimpse into a world that is ignored by mainstream society and misunderstood by so many and challenges the perceptions of childhood disability.