SpecialEffect doesn’t just support disabled gamers. Meet Matt, who was admitted to hospital with a spinal injury sustained from a serious cycling accident, facing months of isolation and rehabilitation.
The hospital staff soon established that his greatest fear was not being able to signal for attention. Rosy, one of their speech and language therapists, had heard about our StarGaze service and contacted us to ask if we might be able help Matt with his communication.
Our specialist StarGaze team visited Matt in intensive care and saw enough reliable movement in his right index finger for him to control a precisely positioned small joystick that could move a mouse cursor around a computer screen. They then carefully mounted a button switch beneath the movement in his right foot that he could use as a mouse click.
Find out more via his whole story on our website! #SpecialEffect #Accessibility #Stargaze
Congratulations to @specialeffectteam , one of the finalists for the Innovation Award sponsored by The Oxford Science Park.
We wish you the very best of luck and cannot wait to welcome you at the Awards Dinner on Friday 12 June for what promises to be a fantastic evening celebrating the excellence and achievements of so many Oxfordshire businesses.
#OXBA2026 #OXBACelebrating30Years #OxfordshireBusinessAwards
Throwback to 2022 when we helped Lisa to get back into her favourite games, like Assassin’s Creed, despite her very limited hand and finger movements!
She lost the ability to play games after back correction surgery when she was twelve, but in 2015 she heard about the charity and contacted our specialist assessment team for support. Between them they created an accessible gaming setup that unlocked the world of gaming again for her, and within a few hours she was tackling Assassin’s Creed, despite her very limited hand and finger movements.
“(to begin with) I was playing… like a complete noob,” she writes, “But I didn’t care. I loved that I could do it.”
Her basic setup hasn’t changed a great deal since that day, but her gaming skill levels have soared. Our team has been in regular touch, providing advice and updating the equipment as technology and her gaming preferences have developed. She currently uses a controller by her left hand for the left stick, nine small switches by her right hand, and a controller by her chin for the right stick and D-Pad.
It’s been wonderful to count Lisa as a great friend of the charity over the years, and a big thank you to her for describing the impact of our continuing help so eloquently. This commitment to lifelong support is a fundamental aspect of our work, and it’s been a privilege to have helped her maintain her enjoyment of the games she loves.
“The staff at SpecialEffect are always there for ongoing support,” she writes. “They go above and beyond and can never do enough to help.”
#SpecialEffect #Accessibility #AssassinsCreed
LIVE NOW!
Heading up to Heisenberg's Factory tonight, can Paige finish Resident Evil Village?! Tune in now over on Twitch for robot fights, silly comebacks and potentially the end of the game!
Twitch - SpecialEffectTeam
#SpecialEffect #ResidentEvil #ResidentEvilVillage #Charity #Stream
We're incredibly excited to be able to say that we're a finalist for the Innovation Award at the 2026 @oxfordshirebusinessawards ! We can't wait to celebrate with the other fantastic nominees at the Awards Dinner in June.
#SpecialEffect #Charity #Award #Oxfordshire #OXBA2026
#OXBACelebrating30Years
Feeling inspired after the 2026 TCS London Marathon? Now’s your chance to apply to join team SpecialEffect next year on Sunday 25th April 2027!
Applications are live on our website and will be open until the end of July. Link in bio!
#SpecialEffect #LondonMarathon #Marathon #London
“They treat us as experts in our own abilities.”
We’ve had the privilege of helping Becky, aka EyeGazeGirl, to enjoy games for over a decade now. She has quadriplegic cerebral palsy which, she says, “makes playing video games quite difficult as I can’t walk or stand or use my arms.”
With the help of our specialist assessment team she can control a computer with her eyes and has been an integral part of the development of our EyeMine software. Having completed a course in Applied Computing at Dundee University, she’s now a content creator, software developer, and public speaker!
#Accessibility #EyeGaze #Minecraft #Charity
In case you missed it earlier this week we introduced Rio, a gamer who was used to playing Call of Duty at a high level against his friends, so when a stroke took away the functional movement of his right side, he was determined to find a way to play again to the very best of his abilities.
He began by teaching himself how to use a PC with his left hand, but with limited access to all the keys he needed, playing with speed and accuracy was a challenge.
Our specialist occupational therapy team worked with Rio both online and at his house to identify the most effective ways he could play the games he loved. The result was the loan of a trial accessible gaming setup based around an adapted games controller that had the right shoulder buttons and stick click moved to the left side. The addition of a sturdy mounting arm made the controller easier for Rio to handle, and the vital WASD keys were remapped to four buttons by Rio’s feet. As reaction time is key for Call of Duty, our team slanted the A and D buttons on Velcro wedges to help shave precious milliseconds off each movement.
Rio absolutely loves his setup, and he’s practicing hard to get back to bossing the battlefield with confidence. He’s even gearing up to take on multiplayer zombie mode, something he hadn’t believed was possible since his stroke.
We’re so excited to have played a part in helping Rio reconnect and compete on equal footing with his friends again. It’s a real celebration of his determination which, paired with our long-term expert support, is bringing back a huge part of his life that he was struggling to regain. And, as with everyone we help, we’ll be there if he needs us again in the future.
#CallofDuty #Accessibility #Gaming
The ballot for the 2027 London Marathon is now OPEN! Apply now and choose to support SpecialEffect, and you'll be helping to make our 20th anniversary extra special, as we continue to level the playing field for physically disabled people all over the world. Ballots close Friday 1st May at 4PM BST.
#LondonMarathon #Charity #SpecialEffect #Marathon
Join SpecialEffect Paige live this evening over on Twitch and YouTube, celebrating her 32nd birthday and continuing with the Resident Evil Village playthrough!
Head on over to the link in our bio to follow us! #SpecialEffect #CharityStream #Birthday #ResidentEvil #Twitch #YouTube
