Representation of Disability in Children’s Video Games (Routledge Research in Disability and Media Studies)

Representation of Disability in Children’s Video Games looks at how children’s engagement with characters and stories in video games helps create the perception of disability they have as teens and adults.Drawing on child development theory supported by neuroscience, the book shows how the scaffold of information, the schema, adults have of disability is first created at a very young age as they interact through play with characters with disabilities in narrative video games. Positing that early video game play experiences should provide exposure to narrative schemas that add understanding and help create meaning about the disability represented, the book presents how such representation in children’s video games maps against cognitive development and the psychomotor and cognitive needs and abilities of children 3-12.Through close readings of over 40 PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 (ESRB E, 10+) games and analysis of games as diverse as Backyard Baseball and Sly Cooper, the author defines broad cate