Projects

We're driven by the needs of the people that we meet, which is why our projects play a key role in our work. We're currently working on the following projects:

The SpecialEffect Loan Library

The aim of the Loan Library is simple - to help everyone with a disability to find a way to play games they love. Without specialist help, it can be almost impossible for parents and the young people themselves to match the game that they would like to play with a control device that they need. As a result, many young people can only sit and watch while their brothers, sisters and friends have all the fun.

Through the SpecialEffect Loan Library, we will loan control devices and games that can be tried out by anyone with a disability so that they can test them out before purchasing.

SpecialEffect StarGaze Plus

StarGaze Plus builds on SpecialEffect's hugely successful StarGaze project which we ran to find out the extent of the need for gaze controlled computers by people who had been paralysed suddenly. Within a very short time of starting this project, it soon became apparent that the project was so important that it had become a service.

StarGaze is, perhaps, the most labour-intensive and demanding element of SpecialEffect's work. A huge amount of care and sensitivity is required to ensure that the person we support has a gaze controlled computer system - as quickly as possible - that is personalised to meet their specific and often complex needs and to also ensure that those supporting them locally are fully trained, with ongoing high-quality support provided by ourselves - whenever they need it.

SpecialEffect Roadshows

Our 2011- 2013 Roadshows will build on the award-winning 2009 and 2010 Roadshows that saw the SpecialEffect Team and volunteers ‘hitting the road’ to enable huge numbers of young people with a wide range of disabilities to find a way to play to computer games - many of them for the first time.

As with previous Roadshows, one of the aims is, of course, to achieve greater inclusion and more fun out of life for the young people involved. This time, though, our SpecialEffect 2011-2013 Roadshows also aim to gain an insight into the specific benefits of games technology for a wide range of young people who are either suffering from a severe illness, have a severe disability or are recovering from a serious injury.

We will be holding the 2011-2013 SpecialEffect Roadshows for the following organisations: Great Ormond Street School, Stoke Mandeville Hospital, The Children's Trust, ROSY (Respite Nursing for Oxfordshire's Sick Youngsters) and Helen and Douglas House Hospice.