We Can Do Better: Ableist Language in Games
- March 6, 2019
Jess Gates
Jess Gates is a game designer with a huge passion for accessibility. They have supported people with disabilities in accommodation and community settings, and run camps and activity programs for young people and families experiencing disadvantage. Jess enjoys creating games about ethical and social issues, and enabling creators of games, things and spaces to actively and intentionally include all kinds of people.
CW: ableist language used in examples throughout article.
Ableist words get thrown around a lot.
‘That level was insane!’ or ‘That boss was mental!’ or ‘You’re crazy, you can’t win like that!’
What people actually mean, though, is something a little different. Let’s do a quick translation of what might have been meant in these statements.
‘That level was difficult!’ or ‘That boss made no sense!’ or ‘You’re being ridiculous, you can’t win like that!’
Is that how we want mental illness thought about? Difficult. Making no sense. Ridiculous. That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement of a person. It sounds like an avalanche of insults. And these aren’t the only ones.
‘This level is lame!’ or ‘The link’s retarded, it’s not working!’ or ‘You’re an idiot, that won’t work!’
Again, translating for what people may have meant.
‘This level is pathetic!’ or ‘The link’s broken, it’s not working!’ or ‘You’re a fool, that won’t work!’
Again, here’s the message we’re repeating about disability: pathetic, broken, foolish. And these still aren’t the only ones. The list of ableist words is extensive and ever growing, as language grows and changes alongside it. Words that were once used as medical terms or were viewed as acceptable in everyday speech are now frowned upon.
And they’re being used, everywhere. They’re being used as difficulty settings (‘Insane mode’), they’re being used to describe the bonus you get after a series of combos (‘Crazy combo bonus’), they’re being used in voice chat between gamers playing online games.
This isn’t okay. It doesn’t matter that in most of these examples, they’re not being used to describe or refer to people. That’s irrelevant. They perpetuate a culture which links mental illness and disability with being broken, being pathetic, and being lesser. A culture which reinforces our built-in ableist perspectives and detracts from disabled pride.
So think about the words in your games, in your promo materials, in your public speeches and panels. Are they just conveying what you intend to convey, or are they also conveying some unintended hurtful messages about disabled folks and people living with mental illness?
And, I get it. We’re not all wordsmiths, able to craft amazingly eloquent sentences at the snap of our fingers. Creating inclusive and respectful words is a process which takes effort, time and practice, and it’s okay to ask for help while you’re learning to do so. Language continues to grow, and so we as word-users must continue to learn and grow alongside it. It’s our responsibility as we interact with those around us.
Thankfully, there are many resources out there designed to help. The Discord bot Izawaru flags discord posts and messages with certain hurtful or discriminatory words in them. Izawaru then offers suggestions for alternative words more accurate to what the Discordian may have meant, allowing people to rethink and rephrase their speech. Another resource about ableist language, created by Autistic Hoya, includes an extensive list of ableist words and appropriate alternatives.
Our languages have many thousands of words. So, if you think there isn’t a word to replace the ableist one in your sentence, you need to keep searching.