{"id":3308,"date":"2018-12-16T15:22:53","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T21:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ablegamers.g5u2p0ll-liquidwebsites.com\/?p=3308"},"modified":"2018-12-16T16:06:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T22:06:02","slug":"an-interview-with-ablegamers-coo-and-global-gaming-citizen-steven-spohn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/an-interview-with-ablegamers-coo-and-global-gaming-citizen-steven-spohn\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview With AbleGamers COO and Global Gaming Citizen Steven Spohn"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Following Steven\u2019s incredible win at The Game Awards, we sat down with the Global Gaming Citizen himself to talk AbleGamers and get into the nitty-gritty of how Steven got here and where he is going.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s an interesting thing being honored for something you\u2019ve poured 15 years of your life into,\u201d AbleGamers COO Steven Spohn begins to tell me. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t just mean AbleGamers. When I joined AbleGamers founder, Mark Barlet, on what would be his quest to change the world, AbleGamers was nothing more than a blog and I was merely a young, frustrated disabled guy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Earlier this month, our very own Steven Spohn, COO of AbleGamers, took home a big win, perhaps one of the biggest in his career: the Global Gaming Citizen Award. Prior to the 2018 Game Awards, the award was coined Trending Gamer of the Year, and was typically taken home by, you guessed it, the most trending gamer, which meant the most popular streamer or content creator. This year, Facebook Gaming teamed up with The Game Awards and broke this down into two awards: Content Creator of the Year and the Global Gaming Citizen Award. The idea was to still give recognition to the year\u2019s most influential content creator, but also shine a light on a figure in the community who is doing something impactful and meaningful aside from entertaining. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Global Gaming Citizen - Game Awards 2018\" width=\"1240\" height=\"698\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8OlJbpp07r4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He explains that the award was more than just that &#8211; it was a way to not only honor him as an individual, but a putting a positive light on a person making <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">real<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> change in the industry. Steven goes on to explain that the exposure for AbleGamers was priceless as well, and ultimately gave the public a real behind-the-scenes look at what the charity does, and he hopes it brings more disabled people into the gaming community. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cSee&#8230;Mark Barlet, Craig Kaufman, and I have infused so much of our life\u2019s blood into what we\u2019ve been doing for so very long that it\u2019s sometimes easy to forget you are more than your work,\u201d Steven continues. \u201cAbleGamers isn\u2019t just a fantastic organization, it\u2019s an ideal \u2014 a beacon of light that draws you in to guide you on your way to becoming the best version of yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Steven goes on to explain that AbleGamers is the beautiful vision that shaped him into who he is today \u2014 the guy that always posts positive affirmations on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/stevenspohn\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the guy who streams not for the views, but to show the world that people with disabilities DO game and they CAN stream on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitch.tv\/steveinspawn\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Twitch<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. \u201cEvery part of what I do professionally and personally is forever molded by the relationships I\u2019ve made and experiences I\u2019ve been privileged enough to partake in, and it is all thanks to a single decision to invest in something larger than myself,\u201d Steven says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-3310 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ablegamers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/steve2.png?resize=805%2C329&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"805\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ablegamers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/steve2.png?w=805&amp;ssl=1 805w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ablegamers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/steve2.png?resize=600%2C245&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ablegamers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/steve2.png?resize=300%2C123&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ablegamers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/steve2.png?resize=768%2C314&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 805px) 100vw, 805px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Today, AbleGamers stands as one of the most prolific and impactful organizations fighting for the rights of people with disabilities in video games and beyond. Steven explains that AbleGamers became his prism\u2014 and the defining moments within shaped his youthful rage into a laser-focused power with sights set on destroying ableism and inequality in and around video games \u2014 or however else he can make a difference in the lives of others. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI will always bleed orange and black,\u201d Steve continues. \u201cIn a way, everything I do will always be a mix of who I am as an individual and what AbleGamers forged me to become.\u201d Steven\u2019s dream is that every single human being has the opportunity in their lifetime to find that one burning passion that inspires them to push themselves to the absolute limit and hold on with everything they\u2019ve got. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cBecause sometimes\u2026 It\u2019s not about ever finding the end of the journey, it\u2019s about watching everything and everyone grow with you into the most magnificent dream you could ever imagine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nFollowing Steven\u2019s incredible win at The Game Awards, we sat down with the Global Gaming Citizen himself to talk AbleGamers and get into the nitty-gritty of how Steven got here and where he is going. \u201cIt\u2019s an interesting thing being&hellip;\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/an-interview-with-ablegamers-coo-and-global-gaming-citizen-steven-spohn\/\" class=\"link-more\" aria-label=\"Continue reading An Interview With AbleGamers COO and Global Gaming Citizen Steven Spohn\">Continue reading&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":3309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","inline_featured_image":false,"wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,43,72],"tags":[48,62,134,132,133],"class_list":["post-3308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ablegamers-blog","category-ablegamers-news","category-our-story","tag-ablegamers","tag-accessibility","tag-global-gaming-citizen","tag-steven-spohn","tag-the-game-awards","entry","entry-type-post"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ablegamers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/steve.stencil.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3313,"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions\/3313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ablegamers.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}