Story

Game On: Finding connection when MND changes everything

Published: 16 December 2025

When fatigue lifts, Rob Taylor logs on. The form IT professional, diagnosed with motor neurone disease in late 2023, plays online with his adult son several nights a week, a ritual that gives them both room to talk and to breathe.

Rob Taylor continues to enjoy gaming with adaptive controllers

"I can disappear from reality and become the avatar that doesn't have a disability," Rob told ABC News. "I don't dream that I have a disability."

Rob’s gaming setup has evolved with his condition. Adaptive controllers now let him use feet or mouth switches so he can keep playing as his hands weaken.

“As my hands deteriorate, I can keep adapting the system to my needs.”

The point isn’t the high score, it’s the space it opens with family: “When I’m gaming with my son, I can break those barriers down a little.”

Clinicians say that matters. MND Queensland’s Director of Care Services, Alicia Edwards, notes that accessible gaming can be “fun, rewarding and fairly low energy,” especially when features are easy to find.

Her team, working with MND Australia, built practical guides for people with MND and their allied health teams because “what worked one month may not work in the future.” The right tech, she says, helps preserve quality of life as needs change.

For Rob, the benefit is simple. Even on tough days, the screen becomes a meeting place.

“Even though it’s an avatar on screen, it’s still connecting. I use it to connect with my son.”

More information and resources on gaming with MND is available here.

Read more stories about life with MND and the research to develop new treatments in the latest edition of Momentum. 

This is a summary of the article published by ABC online on 1 September 2025.