My 2019 journey with XAC (Xbox Adaptive Controller ;-)

2019 was an incredible year for the #XboxAdaptiveController. The Super Bowl ad was wild. Our team received awards from the ESA, Cannes Grand Prix, D&AD, and the Index Project, as we as major acknowledgements from Fast Company, Time, & Tom’s Guide. Partners like LogitechG joining us on our journey to empower gamers everywhere.

I have much to be thankful for and here are my personal highlights of 2019. Although working with the community and industry, striving to make gaming accessible is the best part. I'm thankful for everything that our team has done. I wish we could do more. It's time to do more.

An early high point was attending ATIA at the urging of AT Makers. It’s a wonderful show and it was great to hang with Bill and others from the community. I’ll be heading back this year maybe I’ll get to see Sam from The Blind Life again.

“The disabled gamers in the ad shared their experiences with us in their own words, as equals, along with their friends.” - Erin Hawley Thank you for your article Erin, The Super Bowl ad that spoke for Millions. You and the community appreciating the ad means everything.

John Porter and I were invited to Interaction19 to speak about Microsoft Inclusive Design and how it shaped the Xbox Adaptive Controller. John and I have spoken about this a few times this year and we are always happy to tell the story.

Being able to thank people who helped shape the Xbox Adaptive Controller at the event many of us call home was wonderful. Thank you GAconf

The ESA foundation gave us their 2019 Champion Award. Liz Hamren, myself, Gabi, Evelyn, and others from #TeamXbox were thrilled to receive the award from our friends Erin Muston-Firsch & Erik Johnson in front of the leaders of the gaming industry. 

Thank you to the Game Developers Conference for letting Erin and I tell another facet of the Xbox Adaptive Controller origin story.

Working with occupational therapists has shaped our practice. Going to the American Occupational Therapy Association's annual conference and expo to be able to interact with this profession was wonderful. Here is Bill from AT Makers talking with the attendees.

We sometimes host the international press in the Inclusive Tech Lab. From one of these visits an article was written about me in Süddeutsche Zeitung - Ein Mann, ein Traum. I'm not sure exactly what it says but I've been told it's quite nice. Thank you.

It was a tremendous honour to have our work recognized by D&AD. Winning a Black Pencil for Product Design / Inclusive

Working with the medical community has been very valuable to our work. Being invited to keynote 31th @EACDtweet conference in Paris was a huge honor. Plus having dinner with Lost Voice Guy on the Eiffel Tower was cool as hell.

Just after Paris I was asked to go to Trnava, I wasn't going to pass up an invite to Slovakia, I'd never been. Plus I got to hang out with Sightless Kombat and Sharron. Thank you Game Days Trnava 2019 for inviting me.

Chris Kujawski and the team behind the Super Bowl ad accepted the Cannes Grand Prix for Brand Experience and Activation. The Jury felt it provided the best 'end-to-end brand experience'

The #XboxAdaptiveController started at the Microsoft OneWeek Hackathon. This year we gathered a fantastic team of people, who worked very hard to make custom rigs for a dozen gamers. I appreciate all the hard work of the team and thank you Microsoft Unboxed for telling the story on your YouTube show.

Winning a 2019 Index Project Award is beyond overwhelming. The recognition is incredible, and we thrilled to share this with the community.

One of my favorite interviews and article was this one with Fast Company. Our team appreciates being named one of the Fast Company 2019 Innovation by Design products of the year.

Getting to collaborate with our Microsoft ElectionGuard to be a small part of their vision to modernize elections was incredibly rewarding. I'm very excited to see where they go.

We started the Xbox Adaptive Controller to empower veterans. Our work with Veterans Affairs is very important to us. I hope that the Inclusive Tech Lab can continue to collaborate with our local VA.

In 2005 CanUX was one of the first conferences I presented at. Those events in Banff were very special to me. I was thrilled to be asked to tell our XAC store this year at CanUX

I'd like to thank Shona Bang for inviting me to be part of the #HumansofIT event at #MSIgnite this year. It was an amazing event about diversity and inclusion in IT.  There is a video of my talk in the link below but it is a familiar story ??

Partnering with Ujesh Desai, Mark Starrett, Chris Pate, Will Carey, and everyone at LogitechG on their Adaptive Gaming Kit was a huge honor. I'm so thrilled they are with us on this journey to empower gamers.

I was asked to speak at the UN in Geneva!! It was amazing to speak with their extended community of practice with Carolyn Phillips for #WorldUsabilityDay2019

As the decade closes it is humbling that our Xbox Adaptive Controller is listed amongst such incredible innovations.

I'd like to thank the disability gaming community, I can't thank you enough for giving me the privilege of being part of such a vibrant, important movement. Thank you.