​Join us for a vital session all about exploring different career opportunities available in the video games industry, from accessibility consultancy, game design to starting your own company - there are multiple, accessible routes to working in and around the ecosystem for Video Games!

​#RaiseTheGame will be joined by panel of fantastic industry professionals who will each share their own stories and career journeys while also being able to answer questions from the audience whether about how to get a job in the industry, where to start for certain disciplines, or what their favourite game for accessibility might be ☺

​This event is also a collaboration with SIC who support disabled, neurodivergent, and/or chronically ill professionals with the skills and support they need at every stage of their careers. Through this event we hope to spotlight what jobs and career opportunities there are available in the video games industry for those from disabled and neurodiverse communities, and/or equally passionate around accessibility.

​The following industry professionals joining us as speakers for this event include:

​Alice Hargreaves

​As the CEO of SIC (Sick in the City CIC), Alice has brought her own lived experience of disability, chronic illness, and neurodivergence to close the disability employment gap.

​For the last 3 years, Alice has worked alongside the disabled community to create safe spaces to seek advice, learning, and resources. The SIC Learning Hub is home to free events, accessible e-learning, resources, and a magazine. What SIC create for their community will always be free to access and informed by their community, the latest research, and their team who all have lived experience.

​The other side of SIC is all around creating a more accessible and inclusive workplace. Alice has worked with over 200 employers as consultants, trainers, workshop facilitators and speakers on the themes of disability, chronic illness, neurodivergence, and mental health. This work is what keeps the wheels in motion and helps SIC to operate as a non-profit social enterprise. Therefore, when organisations choose to work with Alice and her team, they choose to support their community too.

​Alice is also a speaker on topics including the gender health gap, disabled entrepreneurship, and how employers can best support their disabled employees present and future.

​Having been born with an invisible disability, and having acquired a few more as the years have passed Alice brings her lived experience to everything she does. Alice also recognises that disability is not a monolith so she leans on colleagues who can bring more intersectionality to the work that she does. Whether that's creating a panel of excellent speakers or bringing video case studies to SIC consulting and workshops.

​Prior to founding SIC, Alice spent over a decade as a marketing and communications professional with a particular focus on equity, diversity and inclusion with a focus on women into leadership, women in STEM and LGBT representation.

​Beatka Wójciak

​Beatka is a visionary tech leader and founder of Chaos Cookie, a cosy game studio born from her passion for connecting art and science. A former Google software engineer and team lead, she was part of the Games London Game Changer 2023 accelerator and featured on Apple’s 2024 Ones to Watch list.

​Her multi-award-winning game Squarelets, which began as a solo side project, is a soothing puzzle experience designed for wellbeing. Beatka’s studio delivers positive social impact through brand partnerships, such as with DKMS. She was also a part of the London Creates Games campaign, championing creativity and mindful game design.

​Cari Watterton

​Cari is an indie developer with a background in UX and a passion for creating games for everyone, with intuitive experiences and player-centred design at the core.

​Currently the Senior Accessibility Designer at Rebellion, she helped to enhance the accessibility of Sniper Elite 5 and worked closely on Atomfall. She is a Develop:Star and BAFTA Games nominee, two-time DARE finalist and Abertay University Alumni.

​Outside of work she has an unhealthy amount of board games, a love of crafting and a black cat called Toothless.

​Chad Bouton

​Chad uses educational gamification to help motivate student learning by using video game design and game elements. The goal being to maximize enjoyment and engagement by capturing the attention of learners. Additionally, Chad focuses extensively on the positive effects gamification has on the leisure industry. His goal is to design an individualized solution that can combine the joy of game play with physical and mental activity.

​Chad knows first-hand how much video games can impact both a person’s personal and professional life. However, so many people who are visually impaired are unaware of the various accessibility features that make video games accessible. At Unsyted LLC, Chad maximizes both the accessible hardware and software available on the market to host both physical and virtual workshops. The goal of these workshops is to develop accessible gaming and IT skills, promote social interaction skills and help foster community through gamification, develop and reinforce self-advocacy throughout the state of Florida, and to provide or begin discussing mental health rehabilitation through gamification.

​Officially, Chad is a credited game consultant, quality assurance tester for the game industry, and radio personality. However, who he is really is a warrior for change and ally to those who would like assistance. Since 2022, Chad has personally contributed to innovations in accessibility that are currently being enjoyed by disabled gamers around the world.

​Since age eleven Chad has slowly been losing his vision due to Retinitis Pigmentosa. However, even though he can no longer see the games he plays the thought of giving up on gaming has never once crossed his mind. Like mentioned before, Chad knows first-hand how important playing games is for people. The positive impact games have on our mental and emotional well-being cannot nor should not be undervalued. His desire to educate everyone that gaming is for everyone; Chad believes that when everyone can play that we all win.

​The event is part of #RaiseTheGame’s Access November - a biennial EDI campaign aimed at championing accessibility both in the games we play and places we work, while amplifying disability and neurodiversity awareness and representation in the UK games industry.

​Access November looks to provide games industry professionals and companies alike opportunities and resources to highlight the importance around these vital matters to not only help their organisations think and implement more inclusively, yet also consider untapped demographics to expand audiences, talent growth and outreach.

​We are excited to host this opportunity and hope you will be able to join us for it 😊

​If you have questions, please do get in touch!