As a physically disabled person, you spend much of your life using adaptive equipment. In my case, my adventure with my walker started at the age of three after a diagnosis of cerebral palsy, and later in life, my collection expanded to include wheelchairs and crutches. These devices have their learning curves, but due to the pure nature of human adaptability, they become an extension of our bodies, our highly customizable tool of Independence and defense, a way to say to the world, I am here. Hear me roar.
I've always felt that an adaptive controller when I game has to be the same way: A highly customizable tool that takes at most a few minutes to learn the basics of and then a few hours of practice to find your rhythm. However, nothing like that ever existed in the adaptive controller space for me until the PlayStation Access Controller, which I recently got to test at an event at Sony HQ.
Let’s Talk Hardware
The Access Controller is a kit with a base setup of eight buttons in a circle, with a button on a touchpad surface in the middle. Outside the circle is a joystick with adjustable length, at the base of which lie the PlayStation and Profile buttons. It comes with three sets of button plate types to customize the controller, the first being a similar shape to the R2 and L2 buttons on the DualSense. The second is a longer version of the base plates vertically, giving you more surface area to push your buttons, and the third plate type is horizontally longer, covering two button spaces. The first button type gives you a higher area to place your button labels in which makes them a lot easier to see while also giving you a soft bouncy surface to hit multiple times if you need to such as in combat in God of War. The other two button types are great for people who have limited hand dexterity or game using different parts of their bodies, giving them plenty of space to push their button of choice. The kit also comes with three joystick types that range from the basic DualSense joystick up to one that’s similar to the arcade sticks from fight gamepads.
I love removing the button plates. It reminds me of customizable keyboards, just without the need for tools. You can easily replace each button with a light push at the bottom and pull, as each button is magnetized and snaps on a new plate with ease. The controller also comes with rubber labels for each button that you can remove and adjust depending on your remapping preference. That same ease also extends to the joystick, which you can replace with a pull. The controller can also be mounted almost anywhere for ease of use, which is excellent for wheelchair trays or people who need the controller to be held up. It also has four ports for third-party switches and buttons.
The Real Magic Happens on the PS5
When you set up your Access Controller on the PS5, you can create up to thirty profiles – similar to the DualSense Edge. Inside the profile, you’ll be asked what orientation the controller is in. You can turn it in the direction you like and then map your buttons however you want. The profile button at the base of the joystick lets you switch between profiles, letting you set up multiple distinct control schemes including joystick dead zones. The Access Controller offers new features that have never been on a PlayStation controller before, including the ability to map two button functions to one button and the ability to tell the controller to hold down a particular button when you press it. Combos can be extremely tedious at best and incredibly painful at worst when you’re gaming with dexterity issues. On a regular dualsense if the combo is reachable I often find myself moving my left hand over to the other side of the controller stretching my fingers trying to hit every button at the right moment. The access controller eliminates this problem by allowing you to map two actions to one button of your choice in the profile section with the assign simultaneous press menu. In that same vein you can make a button togglable simply by switching on the button toggle option in the profile menu.
These functions are great for when you need to aim and shoot or hold a button to accelerate your car in a race. In my demo, I played Gran Turismo Seven and used the button hold function to accelerate my car with one press instead of having to hold a button and in God of War Ragnarok I mapped Kratos' rage combo to the middle button pad. I also used the function in Street Fighter for combos. Gone are the days of pressing L3 and R3 to activate that special move. Map that combo to one button and save yourself some hand pain, friends.
Mix and Match Controllers
The Access Controller can be used alongside another Access Controller or a DualSense. I gravitated towards a combination of using my Access Controller for combat and character movement and using my DualSense for camera movement. Alternatively, if you find yourself playing with friends or family, they can seamlessly pick up the DualSense and play with you without any lag between your inputs. This adds an element of ease if you’re stuck and need help.
Ingenuity Wins Again
I'll honestly say that when PlayStation first announced this project, my expectations were low. I was expecting a price gouge and 5 million accessories (sold separately) to go with a basic base with maybe two to three ways to customize the controller and its buttons on its own, with third-party accessories doing most of the work. Instead, I'm happy to say that the Access Controller exceeded those expectations, from the thoughtfulness of the design of the hardware to the crucial understanding of allowing friends and family to pick up the controller to play with you. You can tell that PlayStation created this controller with a genuine willingness to understand how we as physically disabled people game, and what the most ergonomic way to do that is.
Accessibility isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, and not everything works well for everyone. Still, I believe that if we continue to include disabled people in conversations and really listen and take to heart what they have to say, the future of accessibility can continue to improve. If you have problems with hand dexterity or motor issues, I encourage you to try this controller and see if it works for you. Go forth and conquer with determination, with one hand or two, with friends and family, and everything in between. Tell those virtual lands I am here; hear me roar.
Dynamic Reactions is a content creator and accessibility advocate who spends her time eating ice cream and geeking out on Twitch YouTube and Twitter.
