Our guest says: “Let me tell you, nothing…nothing in the world is as satisfying as fighting a salty gamer bro online in Mortal Combat, winning a match, and then telling them - hey you just got beat by a blind, trans girl. Have a good one. No rematch!”

We featured a sibling pair, Zoe and Jessica (both born with the same blindness condition as us, LcA) on our Siblings episode four years ago and Zoe returns as we here celebrate Pride Month throughout June.

This week on Outlook we’re speaking with Zoe Espinoza about gaming while blind, a pastime many would assume isn’t accessible for anyone unable to see the screen and the visuals found there, but Zoe and regular co-host/boyfriend Barry geek out on this subject on this week’s episode.

With vast knowledge of the gaming universe, our guest shares early memories of adaptations made to play, a love of narrative based games, and a childhood dream to write the stories for these games. She also shares some of the techniques she and her partner (not blind but with other disability such as hearing trouble/brain fog/fatigue) have now come up with to play as a team, co-piloting and coordinating using the skills they both bring to the table to support the other. Barry offering a gaming term, “You’re each other’s augment.” And according to Zoe, “The couple that plays together stays together.”

Here at Outlook On Radio Western we start every show by saying - Accessibility, Advocacy, and Equality. So we discuss deliberately accessible vs accidentally accessible and why it’s worth it for companies to make their games inclusive. Zoe Espinoza and Barry advocate by playing and showing the world that there’s an interest and a desire to escape into the gaming world.

Sibling co-hosts Kerry and Brian didn’t grow up with video games at home, and blindness is a spectrum of course, but we do encourage geeking out, in all kinds of ways, on this program whether it’s AI or gaming or anything else. Barry and Zoe share resources and tips if you, too, are blind and want to play. Or maybe you aren’t blind yourself, you have other disabilities or work in the gaming world, may simply be interested in the topic, making sure it’s an accessible and inclusive activity for everyone.

Check out Zoe’s previous appearance on our show with her sibling Jessica:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-04-12-siblings-series-part-2-jessica-zoe/id1527876739?i=1000516853367