Mark Barlet of AbleGamers shows a child how to play video games using an inclusive controller.

How Mark Barlet created a movement with AbleGamers

Mark Barlet has 25 years of hands-on experience in the tech and assistive technology field. An injured veteran who left the Air Force in 1996, he became trained in assistive technology and supported hundreds of people with disabilities.

In 2004, his best friend, Stephanie Walker, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a condition that nearly took away her ability to play video games. To help her and others with similar problems, Barlet started AbleGamers, a nonprofit that provides disabled gamers with assistive technologies in the belief that gaming fosters inclusive communities, combats social isolation, and improves the quality of life for people with disabilities.

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Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.