Gaming Team for Learning Disabilities

[MrHappy]

Hi everybody. Just to gather opinion more than anything.

Efforts are going on at the moment for a gaming community and gaming team that can be inclusive of everybody but also geared toward people with learning disabilities, mental illness or general states of poor mental health.

The idea is that anybody can be welcome as long as they can appreciate that it does not need toxicity, it needs supportive team work and friendliness.

Just really looking for opinions and thoughts that can be worked upon as to this is a generally good idea even if not for yourself but just a healthy and fun idea all round.

Safeguarding for people with lower abilities will be available and also sign-posting to important health services as well.

UK based at the moment.

Thanks for any ideas or thoughts that you might have.

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

Be wary of trolls both obvious and subtle if its open to the general public.

[MrHappy]

Автор сообщения: -OrLoK- Слава Україн

Be wary of trolls both obvious and subtle if its open to the general public.

For sure! Yes that is one of my biggest concerns. We plan on letting parents in and also we hope there would be lots of Carers and Support Workers out there who also play games.

Ultimately discrimination is a crime in the UK so it's already decided that bad behaviour that is consistent from Trolls - Well let's just say we're going to have no problem having them arrested if it means examples can be set and people take it seriously.

But mainly hope that we can get a good enough core of people who can help to moderate and keep an eye on things.

Thanks for your reply my friend.

[-OrLoK- Слава Україн]

it's not easy to prosecute folk outside of the UK though, so be aware :)

[MrHappy]

Автор сообщения: -OrLoK- Слава Україн

it's not easy to prosecute folk outside of the UK though, so be aware :)

That is a really good point.

Luckily here in the UK, you don't personally have to raise a case for any prosecution. If any crime is obvious the authorities can choose to prosecute if they want to. As you said, this is still difficult outside of the UK.

My idea for this is to restrict the entire thing for UK access only until it is properly up and running with a supportive and bonded leadership team in place.

Thanks for your reply again. Clearly the main concern here is making sure that people with lower abilities are safeguarded and we know all too well that gaming can be nasty as hell.

[Nx Machina]

Автор сообщения: -=ERG=- Cute Code Bob

Well let's just say we're going to have no problem having them arrested if it means examples can be set and people take it seriously.

So you expect Valve to violate privacy laws to give you the real name, address of a user on Steam.

[Bee🐝]

Sounds fine but you most likely should define “learning disability” a bit more - it’s a pretty outdated catch-all term that could mean anything.

Someone with dyslexia and someone with dyscalculia have totally different support needs from a person with non-verbal autism.

You really need to think this idea through all the way.

[MrHappy]

Автор сообщения: Nx Machina

So you expect Valve to violate privacy laws to give you the real name, address of a user on Steam.

It's nothing to do with Valve.What people do on Steam is none of our concern.

It's our own website and community that we are in the middle of making with our own terms and conditions. But since people generally don't read T&C we still have to be mindful and we still have to safeguard vulnerable people.

For my day job I do website design and hosting. Better than that, it's my company. I will be hosting all accounts. So yeah getting the details of serious offenders is no problem and this is in my hosting Terms and Conditions as a general rule for any crime at all.

So, for example and god I hope never but if somebody made a child crime website and hosted it at my company, they agreed to T&C that lets me hand over all of their info and private data and all of their emails which I also host.

This entire gaming project will be under the same T&C.

What you have done here is create a reminder that we cannot control the T&C or support of external gaming companies like Valve. And so it will now be a decision that sites like Discord cannot be used in this idea.

Автор сообщения: Bee🐝

Sounds fine but you most likely should define “learning disability” a bit more - it’s a pretty outdated catch-all term that could mean anything.

Someone with dyslexia and someone with dyscalculia have totally different support needs from a person with non-verbal autism.

You really need to think this idea through all the way.

We are all experienced with various conditions including all of the ones you mentioned plus several very serious psychotic mental illnesses including Schizophrenia and Bipolar.

I myself with a great deal of help from people in my town run a local social club and disco for these people. We have over 100 members with all manner of difficulties and hardships.

The question of if we are qualified or not is not an issue. This isn't just an off the cuff idea that we thought might be nice. We are all qualified in this area which is how the idea came about.

I've asked the questions here because I am aware that gaming can be extremely toxic and advice and thoughts from gamers is always going to help us.

The real question is, can we trust the gaming community at large to be supportive and if not all of the answers will still help because we will make sure the safeguards are in place based on the general opinons of everybody.

Ultimately, we are used to operating a community for low ability people. The question is can be transposed into gaming?

I think yes. But I'd like all the potential problems and views of gamers in front of me.

So, thanks everybody for your thoughts. They are important and I really appreciate it.

[Bee🐝]

What input have you seeked from the actual groups your targeting? Who have you spoken too? Parents, doctors, teachers and “professionals” should always be secondary to the actual communities.

I’ll be honest, the words “learning disabilities” and “low ability” doesn’t really sound like a group of people who’ve a lot of direct experience.

You get why considering someone with let’s say dyslexia to have “low ability” would be insulting, right? Or a neurodivergent individual?

That’s why you need to use appropriate, specific disability focused language.

It’s 2023, we’re not all the same. We are different. And we have a right to have those differences acknowledged and understood.

(Edit: In the UK and Ireland there’s a weird stigma around calling different disabilities by their actual, scientific names. You try to get around it by using vague catch-all terms. Heck, I’ve once saw someone squirm during a conversation about my new text-to-speech reader.)

[MrHappy]

Автор сообщения: Bee🐝

What input have you seeked from the actual groups your targeting? Who have you spoken too? Parents, doctors, teachers and “professionals” should always be secondary to the actual communities.

I’ll be honest, the words “learning disabilities” and “low ability” doesn’t really sound like a group of people who’ve a lot of direct experience.

You get why considering someone with let’s say dyslexia to have “low ability” would be insulting, right? Or a neurodivergent individual?

That’s why you need to use appropriate, specific disability focused language.

It’s 2023, we’re not all the same. We are different. And we have a right to have those differences acknowledged and understood.

(Edit: In the UK and Ireland there’s a weird stigma around calling different disabilities by their actual, scientific names. You try to get around it by using vague catch-all terms. Heck, I’ve once saw someone squirm during a conversation about my new text-to-speech reader.)

I will try to answer all of that in order.

There is a provision in place for Parents and Carers to be involved but not with the actual gaming if they don't want to be. We do appreciate that some of those people might want to play games as well. Our local Member of Parliament is also involved from a supportive point of view in creating an inclusive community for all. We also have three mental health charities who are happy to take our charitable donations and be attached to us if the project grows. EG If a Youtube channel gets created, that will all be for charity in the areas that we are speaking of.

I understand what you are saying about terminology but in all honesty, how would you word it? Here in England learning disability is considered correct whereas learning difficulty is not. Because it can be considered a form of brain disability rather than a difficulty which is something that people simply find hard to do. To imply that somebody is struggling to learn is to imply they are having a difficulty and that isn't the case. A disorder of some description or other is creating a disability in learning. This is how the term became acceptable in the UK. Lower ability is also an acceptable term within the care industry. In UK schools they still call it special education needs which is acceptable and legal but many people see special needs as offensive so we won't use that term. It's worth noting that we are trying to get things correct here and so causing offence by terminology is something we are careful of. Not sure how things operate in your country but here in the UK our terminology is correct. It's also worth noting that we won't get into Woke Culture where every terminology is offensive to somebody no matter who they are.

We fully get it that not all conditions can be seen as lower ability such as the Dyslexia you mentioned. These people don't have to consider themselves lower ability if that is not how they see themselves and it is not how society sees them, The service is open to all and if you don't have learning disabilities then there is no need to consider yourself in that bracket of society. If you do have a serious condition and still don't see yourself in a particular bracket then it's all OK. We're not dictating to anybody as to what they do and don't have, we're just including everybody.

The last part and the edit. Sorry. You are describing Woke Culture where nothing is acceptable and nobody can say anything. The fact still remains that people do have these conditions and if we're not allowed to describe them and invite them to take part then they can only be ignored(?). The point here is to include them.

You mentioned that in 2023 we are all different. But we have always been "all different". 2023 doesn't come into it. Everybody has always had different strengths and weaknesses of one type or another. Even people who you might say are totally healthy.

I fully get your points but you are talking about semantics and the way things are described. What would be your view as to how we invite people? I mean, for example, what would we say on the home page to let people with conditions know they are welcome? In other words, how long will it take before your "neurodivergent" becomes unacceptable and somebody says to you that you shouldn't be using that terminolgy and so a new phrase has to be invented. The facts of these conditions will always remain the same no matter how you describe them and the fact remains that services will always have to be open to them and those services have to be detailed and described.

Please not that we all have years of experience in these areas, We are all qualified in these areas, some of the managers involved with the project also conduct their daily life with some of these conditions and other have spent a lifetime supporting and working with those people. We do not need advice in the area of political correctness.

The questions to gamers is a simple one. Is it possible to run a gaming community that includes everybody no matter their ability and actually be able to rely on gamers to make a healthy community that encompasses everybody?

[Bee🐝]

Автор сообщения: -=ERG=- Cute Code Bob

Автор сообщения: Bee🐝

What input have you seeked from the actual groups your targeting? Who have you spoken too? Parents, doctors, teachers and “professionals” should always be secondary to the actual communities.

I’ll be honest, the words “learning disabilities” and “low ability” doesn’t really sound like a group of people who’ve a lot of direct experience.

You get why considering someone with let’s say dyslexia to have “low ability” would be insulting, right? Or a neurodivergent individual?

That’s why you need to use appropriate, specific disability focused language.

It’s 2023, we’re not all the same. We are different. And we have a right to have those differences acknowledged and understood.

(Edit: In the UK and Ireland there’s a weird stigma around calling different disabilities by their actual, scientific names. You try to get around it by using vague catch-all terms. Heck, I’ve once saw someone squirm during a conversation about my new text-to-speech reader.)

I will try to answer all of that in order.

There is a provision in place for Parents and Carers to be involved but not with the actual gaming if they don't want to be. We do appreciate that some of those people might want to play games as well. Our local Member of Parliament is also involved from a supportive point of view in creating an inclusive community for all. We also have three mental health charities who are happy to take our charitable donations and be attached to us if the project grows. EG If a Youtube channel gets created, that will all be for charity in the areas that we are speaking of.

I understand what you are saying about terminology but in all honesty, how would you word it? Here in England learning disability is considered correct whereas learning difficulty is not. Because it can be considered a form of brain disability rather than a difficulty which is something that people simply find hard to do. To imply that somebody is too idiotic to learn is to imply they are having a difficulty and that isn't the case. A disorder of some description or other is creating a disability in learning. This is how the term became acceptable in the UK. Lower ability is also an acceptable term within the care industry. It's worth noting that we are trying to get things correct here and so causing offence by terminology is something we are careful of. Not sure how things operate in your country but here in the UK our terminology is correct. It's also worth noting that we won't get into Woke Culture where every terminology is offensive to somebody no matter who they are.

We fully get it that not all conditions can be seen as lower ability such as the Dyslexia you mentioned. These people don't have to consider themselves lower ability if that is not how they see themselves and it is not how society sees them, The service is open to all and if you don't have learning disabilities then there is no need to consider yourself in that bracket of society. If you do have a serious condition and still don't see yourself in a particular bracket then it's all OK. We're not dictating to anybody as to what they do and don't have, we're just including everybody.

The last part and the edit. Sorry. You are describing Woke Culture where nothing is acceptable and nobody can say anything. The fact still remains that people do have these conditions and if we're not allowed to describe them then they can only be ignored(?)

I fully get your points but you are talking about semantics and the way things are described. What would be your view as to how we invite people? I mean, for example, what would we say on the home page to let people with conditions know they are welcome? I other words, how long will it take before your "nurodivergent" becomes unacceptable and a new phrase has to be invented. The facts of these conditions will always remain the same.

Please not that we all have years of experience in these areas, We are all qualified in these areas, some of the managers involved with the project also conduct their daily life with some of these conditions and other have spent a lifetime supporting and working with those people. We do not need advice in the area of political correctness.

The questions to gamers is a simple one. Is it possible to run a gaming community that includes everybody no matter their ability and actually be able to rely on gamers to make a healthy community that encompasses everybody?

I live in Ireland. That would be the country next to yours.

This isn’t about being “woke” - heaven knows what that even means - it’s about being specific about the communities you want to involve. It’s important if you plan to run a something like an actual gaming team.

But anyway, the question? Yes. Because those teams actually already exist around the world. They’re here on Steam. Run by actual members of our communities. No white knighting required.

You had an idea and it’s not ready for prime time. Talk to the actual gaming communities of the people you’d like to involve. They’re active on Reddit and here in Steam. There’s amazing resources out there and your skimming the general Steam forums.

BTW when a person with a disability tries to give you some advice, try listening and not informing them of all your credentials or dismissing them as “woke”.

[76561199281265327]

this sounds like major fraud / law suit/ taking advantage of disabled people/ and all other kinda things fancy high priced lawyers can think of, including and not limited to child crimes, i would really be careful with this, there is also personal information theft which is what you seem to be gathering on disabled people which is a crime even if you disclose the fact, you are breaching some kinda HIPAA law, if your over seas and doing this its a even bigger crime where department of justice could investigate and your looking at a minium of 5 to 10 years for fraud and endangerment of mentally disabled.

seek some profressional channels not a gaming forum full of trolls.

I see you said your U.k. based which im sure the UK has there own insurance acts, but be reminded that steam is a international forum exchange and that you could be breaking international law by doing any thing like this.

HIPAA
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a national standard that protects sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge. Via the Privacy Rule, the main goal is to

Ensure that individuals’ health information is properly protected while allowing the flow of health information needed to provide and promote high quality health care and to protect the public’s health and well-being.
Physician near several patients


Who must comply?

Every healthcare provider who electronically transmits health information in connection with certain transactions
Health plans
Healthcare clearinghouses
Business associates that act on behalf of a covered entity, including claims processing, data analysis, utilization review, and billing


Protected Information

Protected Health Information2: Individually identifiable health information that is transmitted or maintained in any form or medium (electronic, oral, or paper) by a covered entity or its business associates, excluding certain educational and employment records

Permitted Disclosures 1

Case with medical insignia
To the individual
Treatment, payment, and healthcare operations
Uses and disclosures with opportunity to agree or object by asking the individual or giving opportunity to agree or object
Incident to an otherwise permitted use and disclosure
Public interest and benefit activities (e.g., public health activities, victims of abuse or neglect, decedents, research, law enforcement purposes, serious threat to health and safety)
Limited dataset for the purposes of research, public health, or healthcare operations

[Vox]

Автор сообщения: -=ERG=- Cute Code Bob

Автор сообщения: -OrLoK- Слава Україн

Be wary of trolls both obvious and subtle if its open to the general public.

For sure! Yes that is one of my biggest concerns. We plan on letting parents in and also we hope there would be lots of Carers and Support Workers out there who also play games.

Ultimately discrimination is a crime in the UK so it's already decided that bad behaviour that is consistent from Trolls - Well let's just say we're going to have no problem having them arrested if it means examples can be set and people take it seriously.

But mainly hope that we can get a good enough core of people who can help to moderate and keep an eye on things.

Thanks for your reply my friend.

Police aren't going to be arresting anyone

[SLG]

Автор сообщения: Labyrinth

Автор сообщения: -=ERG=- Cute Code Bob

For sure! Yes that is one of my biggest concerns. We plan on letting parents in and also we hope there would be lots of Carers and Support Workers out there who also play games.

Ultimately discrimination is a crime in the UK so it's already decided that bad behaviour that is consistent from Trolls - Well let's just say we're going to have no problem having them arrested if it means examples can be set and people take it seriously.

But mainly hope that we can get a good enough core of people who can help to moderate and keep an eye on things.

Thanks for your reply my friend.

Police aren't going to be arresting anyone

You can be arrested and charged with hate crimes.


Hate crimes do cover people with disabilities.

[superto]

Top Group https://steamcommunity.com/groups/topsquad_

[⛧CyberDemonEmpress⛧]

Автор сообщения: SLGray

Автор сообщения: Labyrinth

Police aren't going to be arresting anyone

You can be arrested and charged with hate crimes.


Hate crimes do cover people with disabilities.

No. No you can't, or I'd be in prison now for making fun of people like you and OP... Though to be fair he seems more like a troll, while you seem to actually be ignorant.