Mediaboss Marketing

While the great and the good of gaming were slipping on rented tuxedos and clipping on bowties last Friday for the BAFTAs, something great and good was happening in Oxfordshire - with a speaker even the Academy would struggle to get on its guestlist.

After strutting around the White House and living it up on Air Force One with Barack Obama, David Cameron's first public speech back on UK soil took place in the somewhat less presidential surroundings of the Blue Boar pub, Witney.

By now I'd like to think you will have heard about Special Effect, the amazing charity whose mission is to help people with disabilities to play and enjoy video games through accessible technology. I'm a vice president, and it's an enormous privilege to help get the message out about the life-changing work the team does.

That's what's special about Special Effect. It's not one product you're rolling out for everybody to use, it's a huge amount of individual effort to create that magic moment."

David Cameron, PM

British Prime Minister he way be, but to the people of West Oxfordshire, where Special Effect is based, he also happens to be their local MP. On Friday he heard all about an incredible little girl called Charlotte Nott - and watched this video.

When Charlotte was three she contracted meningitis, which resulted in her losing all four limbs. But that's not enough to stop her gaming, as that short clip so powerfully demonstrates.

Moreover, it highlights in a little over a minute the importance of Special Effect's work and stresses the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all solution - every disability is different, and every person the charity works with receives technical assistance tailored specifically to their unique needs.

The results, though, are always the same: joy, and the liberation of being able to enjoy something alongside everyone else - crucially, on a level-playing field.

It doesn't hurt to have the Prime Minister as your local MP. But, whatever you think about his politics, Cameron has taken a keen interest in Special Effect because he knows all too well the difference its work can make.

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From PM to Players: The Word Is Out On Accessible Gaming