In 2014 Cougar Clifford left a high school basketball game with some friends when they decided to play in the snow. After jumping into a pile of snow headfirst, he shattered his C-5 vertebrae, leaving him with incomplete paralysis. Since then, he has done multiple triathlons, marathons and half marathons with the Kyle Pease Foundation in adaptive equipment like a hand cycle and running chair, along with Paralympic swimming events on Shepherd Center’s swim team, and public speaking to students at St. Louis University. Tools for Life recently sat down with him for an interview. 

Tools for Life (TFL): How did you get into gaming, and what role does it play in your life?

Cougar Clifford: I gamed before my injury to pass time and hang out with friends, so after my injury figuring out how to game to continue that was a big goal of mine. I figured out ways on my own to play some games with some success, but it wasn’t until I started going to therapy at the Shepherd Center where part of my occupational therapy was used to make a brace to hold my right thumb straight when I started to enjoy it again as a hobby.

TFL: Have you found support or friendship through gaming platforms?

Clifford: I have made many friends online while playing games that have become some of the people that I’m closest to. Two years ago, I went to a wedding in Virginia for a friend that I met through gaming. Another person decided to take their vacation in Atlanta to visit me, both of those people I would’ve never met if we hadn’t played games together.

TFL: What does the gaming community mean to you? 

Clifford: The gaming community is a tremendous resource for people looking to get into accessible gaming. For people with injuries, it’s easy to feel alone and that the challenges you are trying to overcome are your own. But if there is something you are trying to figure out, whether it’s something simple like enhancing your gaming setup or a bigger life issue, there’s usually someone there to talk casually about a way to work through it while mutually enjoying a game as a backdrop to the conversation.

TFL: What accessibility features do you appreciate most in games?

Clifford: One of the simplest features a game can have that makes it extremely accessible is the ability to remap buttons. For people with disabilities, hitting buttons in order and holding a button while hitting another can be difficult depending on a person’s needs so being able to decide which buttons are easiest for you to complete actions and changing the controls accordingly can be the difference between making a game playable or not. Another important feature for PC users is for games to have controller support since often game menus are simplified for the use of controllers versus the use of mouse and keyboard, so the inclusion of controller support not only accommodates controller users but can make overall accessibility to the game easier.

TFL: What does Disability Pride Month mean to you? Is there a message you’d like to share with others – gamers or not – during this month?

Clifford: Disability Pride Month is a great opportunity for the disabled community to show able-bodied people that just because we’re disabled does not mean our interests and hobbies are different, it might just change how we do them. On top of showing other disabled people how we overcome our challenges, that exposure could even inspire more people to get involved when creating inclusive environments and adaptive equipment.