Just how accessible are video games when you only have use of one finger and a joystick mouse?
I started playing Fortnite two weeks ago with one of my personal care attendants (PCA). Yes, my strategy is to be a pacifist, just like my favorite author and vlogger, John Green, and camp out in bushes until most of the other players are dead.
So far, I have noticed that the game isn’t very accessible for me because it relies on a lot of keyboarding to be able to navigate my character around the virtual world. I rely on my two-handed PCA who can keep up with the keystrokes in a fast-moving game to move our character to the safest looking bush inside the eye of the storm…and I have one finger to target and shoot. We’ve finished second place three times. But, my character is a pacifist, so I usually end up dying in the end. Wonder what would happen if the other final character refused to shoot me? Would there be peace in our time?
Music videos with captions
One of my favorite bands, Imagine Dragons, has a lot of music videos with captions. I use CC for everything that I watch and music videos typically aren’t captioned. So, it’s really hard for me to understand the words of the songs. Thanks Imagine Dragons and other musical groups who caption their music videos. Can’t wait until someone starts providing real-time captioning at rock concerts. That would be awesome!
Check it out: Natural by Imagine Dragons
Medical Marijuana update
I’m taking a blend of THC/CBD oral suspension before bed. I have noticed this is helping me sleep much better. With the medical marijuana, I’m able to fall asleep and stay asleep without waking up as often during the night. My parents are enthusiastic not to be getting up every hour or two to readjust me at night.
I was also taking a mostly CBD oral suspension in the morning to help with my jerky movements and pain in my hips, knees and feet. I tried that one for a bit over a month and have taken a break from it. I’m not sure if it was the CBD or if maybe it was just hot weather, but I was feeling very low energy and tired during the day. It was kind of helping with the pain but not a lot. I may try again in the fall, try adjusting amounts, and see if it makes a difference or if I think it’s making me too tired.
edX class
In a previous post, I wrote about taking a break from college. I have started taking a Public Speaking course through edX. I love that the lecture is captioned and has a transcript. The site is easy to navigate and very accessible for me.
Have an awesome rest of your summer!
Justin Smith Writes 
Justin, what a great mix of updates, some fun, some med, some advocacy – wonderful! That’s good to hear about the med mj – I’ve been thinking of trying it for some time; to hear that it helps with your sleep, which is one of the things that I’m always “working on” but haven’t been able to do well, will make me think about this, more. I read a book earlier this year, Why We Sleep; and the writer goes through the physiological/psychological importance of a solid night’s sleep – essential for health, in his opinion, as much or more than good food, etc. He doesn’t offer a lot of “tips” – those are around, though; more about what happens in our bodies through the different parts of the sleep cycle. It’s actually a really interesting, readable, book!
It’s interesting reading your post on Fortnite as a mom. Absolutely it should be accessible, and you should be able to play it how you want.. but as a mom, I have heard so many stories about how addictive it is, how many battles it’s caused at home.. you may be dodging a bullet.. (ha) Kris: Oh, that’s tooo baddd… 🙂 That’s just my take – should absolutely be accessible; no question.
Good luck with the class. The turn of summer seems to inspire learning new things, doesn’t it?
Bests,
Donna
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