Founding Story
On one spring evening in 2018, Michael Friant, who has Cerebral Palsy, was hanging out with his buddy Nathan at his place in downtown Wilmington, NC. At some point in the evening, Nathan inquired if Michael had played the Nintendo Switch. When Michael replied in the negative, Nathan handed Michael a controller. After a few rounds, Michael noticed that Nathan was playing halfheartedly. This saddened Michael and demonstrated to him that Nathan did not view him as an equal, but rather someone who needed to be shown pity. Every time they would play together, Michael would notice Nathan playing halfheartedly. As a result, it dawned on Michael that Nathan was showing signs of ableism. Frustrated by this reality, Michael set out to create an The Inclusive Adaptive Controller that would work on all current gaming systems including Nintendo Switch. In addition to the adaptive controller, Michael had the idea of making a game that would allow players to experience situations from a disability perspective in hopes of creating a more empathetic world. Since Michael was a full time student at Cape Fear Community College studying coding, it took two years to develop the adaptive controller and stimulation game. Inclusive Entertainment was founded in January 2020 coinciding with the launch of the Inclusive Adaptive Controller. Then Covid-19 hit leaving Michael even more isolated than he had already been due to him not being able to drive and the general lack of accessibility of the world. As a result, he added a game specifically designed to let young adults with accessibility issues socialize with their peers.