Susanna Martini, Edmonds Cerebral Palsy Sufferer, Is Upset That Kinect Won't Recognize Her in Wheelchair

For about 24 hours on the day the Microsoft Kinect debuted on November 4, rumors exploded that the device had trouble recognizing black people. Those rumors, however, were quickly debunked as a lighting-based, not a racism-based, problem. But now at least one member of a different minority is crying foul against the motion-capture gaming system. Her name is Susanna Martini, she's from Edmonds, and she can't believe that her wheelchair is confusing the Kinect's sensors.

Martini, who has cerebral palsy, apparently got a Kinect for Christmas, and says she was thrilled to give it a try with her husband and daughter.

Per KOMO News' spellcheck-free report, she says:

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it's so cool . . . it's going to be neato," she siad [sic] . . . "Kinect has no clue that I even exist. It's like I'm completely invisible to it."

On its website, Microsoft does have info about Kinect's compatibility with people in wheelchairs , stating:

The initial wave of Kinect games were designed to be very active to take advantage of the sensor's ability to track full-body motion, and as a result may be difficult or simply not possible to play from a seated position. We're working to improve Kinect's skeletal tracking technology in ways that will help developers create games that incorporate seated play.

It's unclear how the woman's story came to KOMO News (Seattle Weekly put a call in to KOMO News' newsroom last night, but has yet to hear back). Martini apparently complained to Microsoft about her problems, which is understandable. But if she also called the station's newsroom, upset that groundbreaking new gaming technology was not quite groundbreaking enough to be ADA-compliant, then her complaints rise to the level of whining.

Besides the fact that all Kinect games give the option of playing with a normal hand-held controller, the basic concept of full-body motion-capture gaming is, by definition, not conducive to seated play. And there's no doubt that Microsoft would do well to design a patch that lets disabled folks better use the Kinect--from the company's statement, it seems they're working on it.

But in the meantime, those who feel slighted by the device's (in)abilities to scan and digitize their bodies in three dimensions and convert that information to a controllable form of entertainment should wait until the technology is more than two months old before raising hell about whether it's an equal-opportunity distraction.