by Greyfax

Today I’m going to talk about what disabilities I have that have affected my boardgaming.

I am hard of hearing. I also (currently — I finally got the proper medication that should eventually fix it) suffer from brain fog (not cognitive decline, nor dementia).

I understand that being able to play with others is a privilege that I’m not entitled to. What I mean by that is that if someone doesn’t want to play with me because of either or both of my disabilities, I accept that without discussion or criticism.

For my hearing, I’ve gotten hearing aids to help me hear. The hearing aids that I have are Sony E-10s. These hearing aids were considered the best hearing aids for dealing with background noise (which is common at board game events, of course) out of several others, most of which cost a lot more. Keep in mind that hearing aids don’t correct hearing the way glasses generally correct sight; they aren’t there (yet?).

I do as much as I can to prevent background noise by playing at home, by playing in a corner of the gaming space instead of in the middle, and by using a private room when available. (One of the local board game stores has private rooms you can reserve.)

Still, I occasionally have to ask someone to repeat themselves. If you are playing with someone who is hard of hearing, please be sure to speak slowly. Many times for me, it’s not the volume of the voice I’m hearing; it’s the speed of the speech, which my hearing can’t keep up with.

Because of the brain fog, I no longer try to learn games at the table, so if someone has a game I would like to play, I choose to pass because otherwise the teach for me would be much longer than the teach for everyone else, and I don’t want that to happen.

As a result, I buy games that I’m interested in playing instead of playing a copy to see whether I’d actually like it. I’m pretty good at telling what I’d like, yet occasionally I buy a game that I wouldn’t have bought had I had a chance to play it. I do look at Board Game Arena from time to time to play games, but many of the games that I want to play (especially the newer ones) aren’t on BGA. In short, anytime I play a game in a gaming space, I make sure I know how to play beforehand so the play will go smoothly.

For others with other disabilities, accept that folks may not want to play with you because of the disability/s. Some folks want to play a game the way they are used to playing, and don’t want to accommodate disabled people. They have the right to do this, so please keep this in mind — and others around the disabled person, please don’t pressure people into playing with folks with disabilities as it can get very ugly and embarrassing for the disabled person.

So how have you dealt with folks with disabilities or your own disabilities?

Finally, this is my last column. I’m not getting questions any more, and I’ve run out of topics. It’s been great, and thanks to all who have participated.

Best,

Ms. Meeple (Jennifer Schlickbernd)