“Absolute magicians … my gaming world has been cracked wide open”
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025
A visit from our specialist assessment team has sparked a vital gaming reconnection for Luis.
He has spinal muscular atrophy, and by his early 20s he’d lost the ability to use console controllers and keyboards, limiting him to control of a basic mouse.
“I’m a gamer at heart,” he said in a LinkedIn post, “But the reality of living with spinal muscular atrophy meant that gaming had slowly slipped out of my reach.”
“When gaming is one of your escapes, joys, and passions, that is … SO frustrating. It strips you of more than just entertainment. It strips you of agency, of community, of digital fun.”
The challenge for our team was to use their experience to find a gaming setup that would make the best of Luis’s abilities. He already uses his hands for his adaptive mouse and wheelchair joystick, so the team suggested a securely mounted joystick by his chin that would mimic the WASD keyboard keys. A carefully chosen custom topper on the joystick made it easier for him to use.
Luis got on well with the joystick, so the team positioned four small switches around it that he could tap with his chin and nose. The team recommended that a Microsoft Adaptive Hub would enable him to use long and short switch presses to mimic different keys, effectively giving him access to eight different keyboard keys as well as the mouse he was already using.
Luis was overjoyed that the setup unlocked many of the PC games he loves, and he had a blast playing Dredge and R.E.P.O during the visit.
“The rig I’ve now got means I can play games I never thought I’d touch again. It’s emotional (much more than I thought it would be). It’s powerful. It’s FREEDOM.”
“This is more than gaming, it’s inclusion, innovation, human-centred design done right.”
Luis is already looking forward to exploring the potential of voice controls in the future, and our team will be on hand to support him every step of the way in his gaming journey.
It costs over £2M every year to maintain the specialist expertise, tenacity and resources that lets us make such a life-changing difference. A regular donation of just £15 a month will help us continue to provide this vital – and free – lifelong support. Thank you from bottom of our hearts, it’s hugely appreciated.
About Luis
Luis is an Inclusion & Accessibility Consultant and a Top 50 LinkedIn UK Disability Content Creator (Favikon 2025)
Image above: Luis using his gaming controller setup. Lower left image shows a low force OneSwitch WASD joystick with a Thumb Soldiers topper, mounted on Manfrotto arm. The joystick is surrounded by four low force switches. A Microsoft Adaptive Hub is attached to the lower part of the arm. Lower right image: SpecialEffect therapists Nomi and Frankie with Luis.