Some Twitch users have been asking for a disability pride month for a chance to promote disabled content creators and boost them on the platform.
Twitch streamer queerlybee posted on Twitch’s user voice site (a place where Twitch users can provide tips for the popular streaming site to improve) and suggested that Twitch adds “disability month front page features”.
The suggestion has over 600 votes since being posted on January 18.
In the suggestion, queerlybee asks for better promotion of disabled streamers, just like how queer creators are promoted during their own pride month.
“Twitch does an excellent job curating teams and featuring marginalised creators on the front page during identity based pride months. However, I’ve never seen one of these happen for disabled creators which I beleive is a big missed opportunity.” They wrote.
“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.
“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.”
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The comments under this post are generally favourable to the idea, one user even adding:
“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 safe and accessible. Give disabled streamers a month!”
Another user took to writing: “I have heard people say, that ableism is like a last frontier. I agree. One way to combat that, is to amplify the voices of the disabled people. But I want this to be diverse within the disabled community, we need a wide variety of representation, and methods to destigmatise what it is to be disabled.”
The suggestion is certainly one that will amplify a lot of marginalised voices, and will provide a great opportunity for viewers to meet people from different backgrounds who have different stories.
Twitch has not yet given any information on whether they will be implementing something like this in the future.
For more on this topic, follow the Gaming Observer.
