Some people know Ross Minor as a blind gamer. What many do not know is when he started playing video games as a child, he could see.
Minor lost his sight at age eight after a tragic act of domestic violence that also claimed the life of his brother and his father. “I was blinded in 2006 when I was eight,” said Minor, who is now 27 and living in Los Angeles. His father shot him in his sleep, killed his brother and then himself. “I was left completely blind in both eyes. I more or less went to bed with sight and woke up in the hospital blind.”
But he never lost his passion for video games. He has been able to transform that interest into a successful YouTube channel and role as a spokesperson and advocate for making gaming more accessible for people who are blind.
“I always tell people that after I was blinded, my love for video games didn’t just end. I still wanted to play Pokémon just as much as I did before,” he said. “This is why I took the time to memorize all of the sounds in the games to help me play alongside my sighted friends. I more or less kept doing that through my childhood and into my adult life.”
Over the years, Minor explored other activities after losing his vision – such as swimming, playing the piano, wakeboarding, surfing and playing the game Magic: The Gathering – but video games remained his favorite, and he has used technology to make gaming adaptable.
“I kind of just use existing software/hardware in a way to make gameplay more accessible. For example, many times when playing Nintendo games, since the majority of them do not have accessibility features for blind people, I’ll plug my capture card into my computer so I can then perform an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) scan on the screen to try to read the text in the game.” he said. “It’s tedious, but it can be helpful in a pinch where it’s required.”
If he is playing on a handheld device, he will use a text reading app like “Seeing AI” to read the text on the screen.
“I prefer to play on controller because of the haptics (touch-based feedback) and I just find it more comfortable,” he said. “My favorite controller is the DuelSense because of the haptic engine in the controller.”
Minor has made it his mission to explore how to make video games more accessible for people with disabilities and has become a spokesperson for blind gaming. He collaborates directly with developers to improve gaming to make it more accessible.
“Around 2015, I participated in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit where I answered questions about being blind. I mentioned in the comments that I played video games, and people were suddenly really interested,” he said. “That’s when I created my YouTube channel and began posting videos about how I play games blind.”
His YouTube channel now has more than 30,000 subscribers.
“I initially began posting about game accessibility on my channel as a hobby for the longest time, but eventually I began putting myself out there more by attending conferences and meeting developers,” he explained. “This allowed me to get my foot in the door, and I began to receive offers to test games as an accessibility consultant. It’s one thing to advocate online, but I’m a firm believer that if you want to make change, at least in the gaming industry, you need to meet people where they are and form a genuine connection with them.”
Meeting people has been easy for Minor when it comes to gaming. His online gaming activities and YouTube channel have allowed him to connect with others. “Ultimately, video games have provided me a huge social outlet that I don’t know I would have had otherwise,” he said.
Minor said the best part of his work is being able to help other blind gamers. “To be given the opportunity to help spread the joy I get from video games to other disabled gamers is a huge dream come true for me,” he said.
You can learn more about Minor at his website: https://rossminor.com/