It has been a busy week for our Special Projects team here at Guide Dogs, as we steer towards our Game for Guide Dogs launch this Saturday at Insomnia gaming festival. We can’t wait for you to join us on Twitch for a full week of live streams from Saturday 27 August – Sunday 4 September.
Throughout the week, we’ll have your favourite video game streamers raising vital funds for Guide Dogs, live puppy cams, interactive Q&As and interviews with blind and partially-sighted people who have had their lives changed thanks to your generous donations.
Laura McDowell, our Fundraising Special Projects Officer, said: “We’re so excited about the launch of our new gaming fundraising campaign, Game for Guide Dogs, this August. We’ve really enjoyed becoming part of the gaming and streaming community. Everyone is so supportive and dedicated to fundraising for brilliant causes.
“The streamers we’ve got on board for our streaming week at the end of August are all brilliant and we can’t wait for our supporters to be welcomed into the wonderful world of livestreaming!"
"The funds raised through Game for Guide Dogs are hugely important and will all go towards helping children and adults living with sight loss to live the life they choose.”
Laura McDowell, Fundraising Special Projects Officer
More than two billion people play video games worldwide, with 31.6 million of these in the UK. While many games were unplayable for people who live with a vision impairment in the past, there have been significant advances in accessibility with developers now placing an emphasis on ensuring their games can be enjoyed by everyone.
One of these 31.6 million UK-based gamers is guide dog owner Jon Attenborough, who will be taking part in the streaming week alongside his incredible guide dog Sam (pictured below). Jon will be giving a live interview on Tuesday 25 August, but we caught up with him to share his experience before the big launch.
Jon said: “Way back when I was a child and started gaming, accessibility features were virtually non-existent. When I became registered blind, I thought it wouldn’t be possible for me to play games anymore as I couldn’t read any of the text on the screen or navigate the menus so there was a year or two where I wasn’t gaming because I thought this wouldn’t be possible for me anymore.
“I was contacted by several people to let me know about some of the accessibility features that Microsoft and Sony have been integrating into their consoles. Game developers have been doing an amazing job of integrating many accessibility features into the games they are building them. This got me really excited and reignited my passion for gaming!
“I’m delighted to be a part of Game for Guide Dogs and would like to thank everyone who is supporting the campaign through streaming, fundraising or viewing. Sam and I are looking forward to meeting you all when we go live on Tuesday!”
To get involved, all you have to do is head over to our Twitch page at www.twitch.tv/guidedogsuk and click follow.
Don’t worry if video games aren’t normally your thing, we’ll have plenty of content that you won’t want to miss. Our full schedule is available with the following link: www.guidedogs.org.uk/game
