Designing Game-Based Rehabilitation Experiences for People with Aphasia

Abstract

Over 2 million people across the United States are living with aphasia, the loss of language due to acquired brain injury. Aphasia is an invisible disability that may come with negative consequences for communication, community participation, and quality of life. Game-based rehabilitation is a promising solution to address unmet long-term recovery and psychosocial needs for people with aphasia. In this paper, we describe a participatory game design process that engages people with aphasia (PwA) in the creation of three hybrid digital-analog games. We detail methods for facilitating collaboration across language barriers and divergent professional expertise based on interviews and participant observations throughout our iterative design process. We also contribute a set of design principles synthesized from aphasia rehabilitation research, interviews and community data. We conclude with recommendations for pursuing community-empowered aphasia game design for this underserved population based on reflection from our co-design experience.