SIC’s Career Spotlights: Vivek Gohil
Vivek Gohil is an accessibility and assistive tech consultant, a blogger for his website Uncanny Vivek, and a freelance writer for Eurogamer. He’s worked with companies such as Xbox to develop adaptive controllers, and has spoken at conferences such as GA Conference and Adventure X.
A photo of Vivek Gohil. He is a man with dark hair in a wheelchair, whose head is supported by cushioned pads. He smiles at the camera, and is wearing a blue checked shirt and a watch.
What motivated you to enter your field of work?
I didn’t really have any motivation at the beginning. I used to do a lot of stuff for a charity, MDUK, because I have muscular dystrophy. But through that, I got into gaming, and I wanted to do something that was relevant to me. At the time there were a lot of accessibility issues with gaming, so it did happen naturally, but then I realised that what I’m really passionate about is gaming and accessibility.
So it wasn’t like a plan, I just fell into it and I enjoyed what I was doing. I also enjoy writing so I have a blog. I got a lot of hits when I was talking about accessible gaming - I got parents contacting me saying that their boys can’t play games, and asking ‘Is there any help?’. A lot of my friends have just given up gaming because it’s too hard, but I wanted to help.
I knew I wanted a console but I couldn’t play it at all, so I thought that my only choice was to stop gaming. And that was really depressing for me. I realised how much gaming is important, so I contacted this charity called Special Effect, and they deal with a number of adaptive controllers and things like that, so when they came I was left with a feeling of ‘Oh, I can continue gaming, I don’t need to stop!’. I just wanted to spread awareness of the Special Effect charity and gaming and accessibility.
I went from thinking ‘Oh, all the issues I have are because of my condition, my muscle weakness’ to ‘Oh, it’s probably the accessibility of the equipment’. I think I really wanted to make a difference, that’s my motivation.
How do you think being disabled has changed your approach to how you do your job?
At the beginning I used to say ‘Yes’ to everything, and at the time I thought I could do that, but I started to understand my body and my limits. I realised that I’ve got a certain time period to work, between 1-5, and afterwards I get very fatigued. I have to come up with a plan so that I can be productive as well as looking after my health - recently I’ve started to have some energy problems because I get fatigued quite a lot.
At the beginning, it was really helpful to get me started on accessibility, but now that I’m better established I can pick and choose what I want to do, and what I think is most relevant to me. I would like to help everyone, but sometimes when you have a disability and energy issues, you have to be very picky, just to be sure that your energy is spent on something that is very helpful, and also that you enjoy it.
So that’s what has changed my approach to the job, because I thought I had to keep up with my other friends that didn’t have a disability like mine. But I realised that I can’t follow other people in the way I thought I had to - now that I write blogs, and write articles for gaming magazines, I realise that what’s helped me is to diversify the type of work I’m doing so I can be as productive as I can.
What is your career advice for those who aspire to do a similar role?
I think there’s a lot of space for different perspectives with gaming accessibility, disability or whatever else. A lot of what you say is beneficial, because initially I used to think ‘Oh, they probably won’t listen.’, but I realised that perspective is very important, and speaking up is necessary. I want new people to not worry too much that their voice is valuable. Also I’d say learn your limits, as well, just so you can be as productive as you can. There are people like you that don’t have a voice, so you’re a voice for them too.
Did you experience any set-backs when you started working, due to your disability? How did you overcome them?
I think a lot of setbacks in the past were due to having to travel and staying at hotels and things like that. That was really starting to get difficult for me, so when COVID hit and everything was done virtually, that really changed the way I work. I could actually do more work, more interviews, because I’m in a place I’m comfortable and I have all my equipment setup.
Otherwise, like when I was going away for talks, it was very difficult for me. I needed to ask someone to do the next presentation slide, and I found it difficult to read my notes, but because I was at home on my computer I could do all of that independently without worrying. I think working virtually solved a lot of barriers that I faced, so I do like to continue working from home, and I’ll see in the future if I might travel again.
You don’t realise how important your home environment is until you’re there, and you can look back thinking ‘I don’t have to do that really difficult thing I did five years ago, I can just do it here.’ I think it’s helped everyone really, not just disabled people. It was quite a healthy thing to change your work life balance.
Are there any specific projects you are particularly proud of?
There are quite a few projects that I’ve done, but the first project that I did was with Xbox, testing their adaptive controller. That was like 5 years ago, and was the thing that brought me into gaming accessibility, and made me realise that my voice was heard. It brought me into this world where I feel like I’ve found meaning in my life.
There’s a global accessibility conference that happens every year, and last year I spoke there. Talking to game developers about my perspective on control systems and accessibility options that are relevant for me was directly sharing my knowledge. Not a lot of work has been done as much for people with my type of disability in gaming, and I think though my talk I educated a lot of game developers on what options work for me but also for other disabled people.
The three years before that, I used to attend, and think ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be so good to be up there and talking to game developers?’ - and then three years later I was actually doing that, so I’m very proud of that one! When I was younger, I used to find it really difficult to speak to people, I was very awkward, but gaming and accessibility has brought me out of my shell and I’m way more confident.
Which other disabled-led companies or disabled professionals inspire you?
Recently I did a couple of things with the charity ‘scope’ about digital accessibility, because at the time they released their digital accessibility report, not a lot was understood by people about good digital accessibility. It’s interesting to find out how bad digital accessibility was until then.
I’ve noticed that in the past year or two years, there’s been a huge change in digital accessibility, and scope are continuing to do that so I’m very proud of them. Also, Microsoft have done a lot of great accessibility with the Xbox, but they’ve taken that design principle and they’re using it to look at computing peripherals and other products to make them more accessible.
Listen to Vivek talk about his experiences at our Disability Pride Month Panel Event. Click here to read more about the event and book tickets.