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I *may* have mentioned that I'm reading The Person You Mean to Be by @DollyChugh? A few times, maybe? But I've been thinking a lot about the idea of working with a growth mindset and how that applies to both my own #a11y work and game dev as a whole.
What is a growth mindset? Simply put, it's the idea that the way you see things, the way you do things, isn't the ONLY and BEST way of doing them and that you can still learn (for my fellow sociology nerds, it's not entirely unlike cultural relativism but on a more micro level).
I've arrived at two things in the time I've spent with this incredible book: 1) a growth mindset is, I fully believe, the "secret" to the success of @CanIPlayThat. We started right off the bat eager to learn from other disabled experiences.
And it's worked amazingly well. Instead of applying our own limited understanding of the very broad topic of accessibility and attempting to cover EVERYTHING through our own lens, we embraced the idea of, "Hey, I bet somebody else knows better than we do."
2) The idea of a growth mindset is why, IMO, the games industry is more eager and primed to embrace accessibility and inclusive design than any other industry (like publishing and academia...)
Game studios and developers thrive on improving and learning and iterating. If studios didn't work from a growth mindset, they would fail. (And yes, they have a hell of a lot of work to do with that in terms of people in the industry and diversity and representation.)
We see the wild success of games and studios who seek out disabled consultants because the devs realize that they don't have all the answers and their way may not be the best and only way. It certainly hasn't led to past accessible games, so they embrace the change and growth.
Anyway...that's where my head is this morning. If you want to learn more about this, first of all, read the book. Also, here's the author's TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/dolly_chugh_how_to_let_go_of_being_a_good_person_and_become_a_better_person?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
And if you're a writer, here's a good piece on how a growth mindset can benefit you as a writer, from @gooddirt: https://www.writermag.com/writing-inspiration/creativity-inspiration/growth-mindset-as-a-writer/
