Kathryn E. Ringland
ABSTRACT
Much of the scholarly work for and about individuals with disabilities focused on accessibility and on disability identity. In this ethnographic study of a Minecraft community for children and youth with autism, Autcraft, I analyze community members' intersecting identities of gamer and autistic. I also describe the role of gender-identity as it impacts how youth explore and express their other identities. This work shows that autistic is only one facet of the community members' lives and that they consider themselves gamers as part of their core identity. I discuss the similarities in mainstream discourse about autism and gaming and the importance of approaching marginalized gaming communities with an intersectional lens. The contribution of this work points to how these complicated, intersecting identities affect how we, as researchers, should approach gaming communities in future work.
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Index Terms
- "Do you work for aperture science?": researching and finding the gamer identity in a minecraft community for autistic children
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