Hello everyone! Please join me in welcoming Danielle to Just Geeking By. She is joining us today for repDISND 2024 to discuss playing Ring Fit Adventure on the Nintendo Switch, and the benefits and limits of Assist Mode for a player with Cerebral Palsy.

Let me be transparent from the beginning: I am not proud to be disabled. I know that is something of a controversial statement within the community, but it’s also true to my experience. I have not found the peace that so many other disabled people seem to express online, nor do I particularly enjoy feeling like my life is so restricted and dictated by my permanent need to use a wheelchair. I wanted to make that clear, not only because it simply isn’t spoken about often enough, but also because I want everyone reading this to understand that even just the idea of exercising is a big deal for me. Now I’m sharing an experience publicly, which is terrifying, but I appreciate you sticking with me. Let’s get into it, shall we?

Two years after a nervous breakdown that I have never really recovered from, I discovered Ring Fit Adventure on the Nintendo Switch, after some gentle encouragement from my mum. Usually, games like these make it very clear that they were not developed with bodies like mine in mind, so I get extremely self-conscious about trying. In spite of myself, I did a quick internet search for accessibility options. If I’m being honest, I fully expected that there wouldn’t be any, and was pretty comfortable with that reality. I suppose, my brain doesn’t need much encouragement to recognise the many spaces where my needs aren’t part of the conversation, you know? Needless to say, I was shocked to discover that Assist Mode existed and set it up at the earliest opportunity. This way, I could participate like everyone else without needing to use my legs, right?

Well, for a while, that’s exactly what happened. I was able to navigate the early levels with relative ease and — if I dare to say it — had actually started to enjoy myself. It was a new element to my otherwise quite mundane routine, which felt like looking after myself. The best part is that I could do all of this without it feeling like exercise, because I was doing it to save the imaginary world. I have craved this type of gaming experience since finding Breath of the Wild impossible to play for my Cerebral Palsy hands, but that’s a story for another day. The point is that I was doing it, which is something that I think my old physiotherapist would be proud of, especially after how hard things have been.

Of course, though, there has to be a twist in the tale before I sign off. After sinking ten hours into it (not bad for someone only able to exercise for five minutes a day), I reached a section that could only be completed by doing leg exercises, even with Assist Mode turned on. When this happened, I was initially determined not to get disheartened, so turned to the internet for a solution. A Reddit thread suggested that I strap the leg controller to my left wrist, followed by a string of success stories in the comments. I can do this, I thought to myself, as I booted up the game to give it a try. Well, dear reader, it turns out that I could not do it. I tried for an embarrassingly long time, because other people had managed, but my coordination and strength just isn’t there. What did I do next? I cried, naturally, but it feels important to unpack why in more detail.

It is so frustrating to be let down by my body all of the time, but also not to be given the same access to fun and fitness as everybody else, especially when certain features claim to make it inclusive. To come this far and then have my needs be overlooked makes everything else that came before it feel so meaningless. It’s clear to me that the developers don’t actually care about making a genuine effort to be accessible, but more about doing the bare minimum. Cool.

According to my research, the theme for Disability Pride Month 2024 is “We want a life like yours”, which is exactly the point. Quite desperately, in my case. There are so many things that disabled people shouldn’t have to fight for, and being able to exercise like every other user of this game is one of them. Since this happened, I have been going back through previous levels and working on the mini games, but it still feels sad. We really are just like you, okay? Please do better in helping us to believe that.

Many thanks to Danielle for her fantastic guest post about her experiences with the benefits and limits of Assist Mode while playing Ring Fit Adventure on the Nintendo Switch!

If you enjoyed reading this post please let Danielle know by leaving a comment below 🙂

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