I am starting this petition to encourage Nintendo to make the 3DS handheld game console usable by people who are blind. As a blind gamer myself, I experience first-hand the feeling of segregation that the lack of accessibility brings. The 3DS console has many online features that sighted people can either use or disregard at their leisure. For blind people, it is a different matter entirely. I couldn't even set up my console without the assistance of a sighted friend. The utter lack of access means that I cannot use the Nintendo EShop to download or purchase content, nor can I access the multitude of other online services that other 3DS owners enjoy without a second thought. Why should I be cut off from being able to access about 80% of what the 3DS has to offer, just because I cannot see?

I am able to use an iPhone, Mac and Windows PCs of all sorts, Google's Android devices, and even Amazon's Kindle apps and hardware products as effectively and easily as everyone else. Thus, I am of the belief that Nintendo has no excuse not to make their console accessible to blind people, and from a company who prides itself on the idea of "fun for all," it seems contradictory, unless blind people are excluded from "everyone."

From a business perspective, making the 3DS console accessible to the blind means that you open up at least twelve million more potential customers. Apple's Mac and iOS devices have enjoyed a significant boost in sales, ever since the introduction of their VoiceOver screen reader and Zoom screen magnification features. Blind people want to enjoy these mainstream products equally as much as everyone else.

Please support this petition, and urge Nintendo to make good on their word, and allow blind people to take part in the "fun for all." After all, we are blind, and we deserve to play too.