May 20, 2021

Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Twitch

Celebrate Global Accessibility Awareness Day on Twitch

There are 1 billion people in the world who have a disability—about 15% of our planet’s population. Yet as technology continues to leap forward, not everyone is considered. 

Global Accessibility Awareness Day is all about getting people talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion. And on Twitch specifically, it’s also a way to celebrate creators with disabilities and the brilliant contributions they’re making to gaming, art, and this community overall. 

All day long on May 20, we’ll be featuring 13 creators across our Front Page and on social. Take a look at who is going live, then make sure to tune in, say HeyGuys, and meet them and their communities!

May 20th

Beyond Global Accessibility Awareness Day, it’s crucial we keep accessibility in mind and build Twitch and Twitch events to include as many people as possible. Here’s a look at what we’ve been doing, what’s coming next, and what you can do to help. 

Twitch Rivals and Streamer Bowl

We recently took steps to make Twitch Rivals and the Streamer Bowl more accessible for all participants.

As a top streamer of Fornite on Twitch, ewokttv was recruited to participate in the Streamer Bowl II remote production. This was a three-part event that featured ewokttv in the playoff game, the draft show, and Streamer Bowl II. Understanding that this would be a remote event, the Original Content Production & Operations team wanted to ensure that ewokttv’s experience with a hearing impairment was as meaningful and engaged as the other participants’. This included working with ewokttv’s team to have a translator assist him during the draft selection and a finals appearance, allowing him to appear on the broadcast alongside the other captains.

Inside Twitch

Amazon will be featuring Twitch Creators to speak internally to Amazon and Twitch employees about digital access and inclusion. This series will include creators StaceyofGotham, Steve Saylor, and Steven Spohn of AbleGamers. Each will be sharing stories about their journey as a creator and their experience as gamers with disabilities who serve as consultants on accessibility within the gaming space.

Creator Camp

Some of your favorite creators are hosting a chat about how to make your content more accessible on Twitch. The lineup features BlindGamerSteve, NoHandsNZ, TiffanyWitcher, and Narindipity. 

Be sure to check out the Creator Camp conversation here.

We’re also committed to supporting organizations that support and spread Global Accessibility Awareness all year long. 

What You Can Do

As a streamer you can get involved and create more inclusive spaces; here’s how:

Educate yourself and talk to your community about ableist language and how it impacts those with disabilities.

Advocate for more accessibility in gaming. Games should offer accessibility features like subtitle sizing, color options, button mapping, and more. Together we can advocate for more accessibility and inclusive game design. Here’s How:

Raid and collaborate with disabled creators. Collaborating with other streamers can grow both your streams and also lift up other creators. If you haven’t already, take time to expand your network to include disabled creators. We’ve listed some who will be featured this week, but there are many more doing amazing stuff all across Twitch.

Fundraise for charity. Support charities like AbleGamers and SpecialEffect whose work has helped to bring more accessibility to gaming both in design and equipment. And if you’re new to charity streaming? Check out our Creator Camp on Charity Streaming to get started!

Report. Don’t just ban. Hateful conduct and harassment have no place on Twitch, social media, or anywhere else. Please report it to us so that we can continue to take action against those who violate our Community Guidelines and seek to harm our community and creators. If you only ban, without reporting, Twitch doesn’t know what happened.  We’ve also updated our harassment and abuse policy for incidents that happen off-platform, and you can read up on the update here.Our commitment to continuing to create better documentation and accessible options for our disabled creators and viewers on Twitch doesn’t stop today. We will uplift streamers with disabilities, expand our knowledge, and improve our overall accessibility. Don’t forget, “You’re already one of us.” This means that no matter their ability, background, or interests Twitch, is for everyone. 

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