Video Game Controllers for Quadriplegics

posted on Jun 29 by Jessica in the Disability News, Technology, Wheelchair Accessibility category

Ruben Rios is a quadriplegic who sits motionless in his wheelchair with no use of his body below his neck, and yet Rios is able to play video games such as “Madden NFL 11″ thanks to a game controller that gives quadriplegics the ability to play video games usually requiring two hands. The special controller that Rios uses is entirely controlled by his head and mouth, combining lip controls, puff and sip tubes, and a head operated joystick. To throw a touchdown, he flicks his tongue; to break away from a tackle, he puffs into a tube. This liberating device was the hand-made invention of Montana engineer Ken Yankelevitz, but now that he has retired from engineering, some disabled gamers fear there will be no one to take his place.

With Yankelevitz’s controller, Rios and other quadriplegic gamers have a dozen different actions that they can work with their mouth. It can be difficult to learn the complicated system, but for someone who suffers paralysis of the arms and legs and largely depends on others, gaming with the mouth controller is something they can do entirely independently.

“After my injury there really wasn’t anything that I could do that I was actually in control of,” said Rios, who became a quadriplegic in 1988 from a gunshot wound. “I can’t emphasize enough how important this (is) to people with high spinal cord injuries.”

Yankelevitz began working on mouth operated video game controllers for the Atari console back in 1981. It was a simple design: users only had to push a few buttons and move a joystick through their controllers. As time went on he has been able to adapt to more complex consoles, such as the Xbox and PlayStation. He has no relationship with any of the companies, noting that they aren’t interested because there isn’t a sufficient market.

In his 30 years of designing them, Yankelevitz has sold just over 800 devices. He meticulously puts each controller together by hand and sells them for only just over $200, which includes a 1-year warranty for repairs. It would be too expensive to the gamers to have these controllers constructed by a factory and sold at over $1000 each. As a result, larger companies and gaming manufacturers have shown no interest in the production of controllers for the disabled, because there is no way to profit.

Quadriplegics are a portion of a growing community of gamers with disabilities. “If Ken (Yankelevitz) stops making these controllers, we’re going to be pretty much left out to dry,” Rios admitted.

Without someone to continue making these controllers, quadriplegics may no longer be able to participate in gaming activities. “As long as I’m making a controller that will work, then they are motivated,” said Yankelevitz.

Sources:
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110611/ap_on_hi_te/us_video_games_quadriplegics
quadcontrol.com
ablegamers.com

Photos:
ongo.com