David’s back in the game
Friday, June 25th, 2021
Football fan David is now banging in the FIFA goals for his favourite team again thanks to an adapted controller setup devised by our specialist assessment team.
Southampton supporter David has cerebral palsy with spastic quadriplegia and finds fine motor control tricky. When he was young he used to love playing FIFA but his physical limitations increased with age.
“He’s always been a sports fanatic so it was hard for him when he couldn’t play his EA games,” his foster mum explained.
She got in touch to see if we could help, and our team arranged an initial video call assessment. The aim was to explore potential ways for him to access his Xbox and, if possible, recommend and loan an adapted setup configured to maximise his gaming abilities in a safe, comfortable and effective way.
During the assessment call David demonstrated that he had more movement of his right arm than his left, but found gripping objects quite difficult. The team took him through a range of equipment setup options that had the potential to help and they subsequently decided to recommend an initial loan of an Optima joystick with a range of joystick finger grips. This, along with two head switches, connectors, mounting equipment and suitable interfaces, was sent to him for a trial period.
The loan is proving to be a great success. He’s able to operate the two head switches well, and by carefully positioning the joystick where he can use it most effectively and switching to a smaller joystick grip, he’s mastering FIFA in its two-button mode.
“It’s so thrilling that he can access games again,” said his foster mum. “Once he’s set up he’s pretty independent and has things well under control so Southampton always seem to win, much to his delight!“
Despite the ongoing restrictions we’re so glad that our remote assessment and support is continuing to prove such an effective way of delivering our personalised, practical and professional help. We’re delighted to see David so happy, and our lifelong service means that we’ll continue to assist him for as long as he’d like us to.
Below: David playing FIFA using his joystick and two head-operated switches attached to his headrest. The reflective dot on his nose is part of the infrared control system for his tablet computer.
