Twitch is looking to be more inclusive to gamers in the disabled community, and is doing so by removing the phrase 'blind playthrough' from their tag lists.
Twitch announced earlier this week that they would be removing the phrase in an attempt to be more inclusive with their language. Erin Wayne, the director of creative marketing for Twitch, made the announcement via her twitter page, stating that "Happy to see Twitch has listened to everyone who shared feedback and removed the “Blind Playthrough” tag to encourage more inclusive language for our community."
Wayne noted in the same tweet that the phrase "First Playthrough" would be used to replace the word 'blind' in this case, pointing out how the switch in phrasing doesn't really effect the context of what individuals do on stream.
Reaction of course, has been mixed, but many advocates for gamers with disabilities have praised the move. Wayne even referred those curious for more information to Stephen Spohn, the COO of Able Gamers. Spohn would spend several tweets fostering a dialogue regarding why this change is important, and how language and its use shifts constantly in the general culture.
"If you get a parking ticket and you say "That's lame!" What you actually meant was "That sucks!"" explains Spohn. "If you die in a videogame and you yell "that was retarded" what you actually meant was "That was bad" Ableist language is inserting a disability in place of a negative word."
Spohn also points out how phrases such as First Playthrough or No Spoilers Playthrough still invoke the same meaning as 'blind' without changing context of intentions by the player, a key point in the entire discussion.
Though this may seem like a small, insignificant thing, the use of language and its evolution in phrases and culture is a living, breathing part of our society. For the gaming community, these are the type of conversations we should have, with the hope to be more inclusive for everyone. Some companies have taken that step already, such as Ubisoft cleaning up a description in Assassins Creed: Valhalla to remove some ableist language.
