Twitch streamers campaign for Disability Pride Month
"A big missed opportunity".
Twitch streamers have begun campaigning for a Disability Pride Month on the platform.
The streaming platform has previously run awareness campaigns for diverse communities, including Pride Month, Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month.
However, Twitch has never highlighted disability in the same way. Streamers want that to change.
A new post on the UserVoice forum from streamer QueerlyBee states the lack of a front page feature for disabled creators is "a big missed opportunity".
"Being a content creator as a disabled person adds a whole host of additional challenges, such as navigating algorithms that favour consistency with inconsistent bodies. Finding games and programs that are accessible for us for streaming, etc," they say.
"I would love to see Twitch uplift the hardworking disabled creators by also hosting a Disability Pride Month and highlighting disabled creators the way they do with Black History Month, AAPI month, LGBTQIA+ month, etc."
So far, the post has had over 350 votes in just one day.
A number of disability tags were added last year as part of the community tags covering gender, sexual orientation, race, and more. This has certainly improved discoverability on the platform.
However, a month-long celebration would be a positive move towards greater disability representation on the platform.
"Disabled streamers having Twitch as an accessible (hopefully to an increasing degree) platform is something that should be celebrated. I hope to find and meet others should this come to fruition," says one commenter on the UserVoice post.
"Disabled folks often are excluded from the narrative when we discuss marginalised communities and Twitch is the perfect place to highlight and uplift these creators. There are intersections from all walks of life who are disabled and offer different perspectives and you'll always find their streams are the most important thing: safe and accessible," reads another.
You can read and vote on the post on the UserVoice platform.