Today, we dressed up in our Halloween costumes and headed out to join in on some early Halloween fun. When we got there, we saw that everyone else had the same idea. Instead of waiting in line forever, we decided to switch things up and go to one of the boys’ favorite spots. In our town, there’s this cool old-school arcade with classic games that’s only open to kids on Sundays. The boys were super excited about it, so off we went.

Titus is a huge fan of video games, which surprises a lot of people because he’s blind. People often ask us how he’s able to play. He’s still pretty young, so he can’t play every game out there, but he’s definitely getting the hang of some of them. He’s a pro at Mario Party and Mario Kart, especially when he’s using the steering wheel at the arcade. He’s also really good at Wii Bowling, somehow figuring out where to aim without any visual cues. When it comes to Mortal Kombat, he’s able to pick up on sounds and clues that others might miss because he’s relying on his hearing and sense of touch. Mortal Kombat II happens to be his favorite arcade game and he enjoys challenging all of us because he wins almost every time.

The boys also love playing MLB the Show games, but we have to make some adjustments like turning down the crowd noise so Titus can focus on the pitch. Some games, like Luigi’s Mansion and Lego City, require a bit more help since they involve moving around and exploring. In those cases, we team up – I’ll guide the character and describe what’s happening, while Titus takes on the bad guys.

It’s important to remember that blind and visually impaired kids enjoy the same things as sighted kids, they just might need a few tweaks here and there. But overall, they can have just as much fun and excitement as anyone else.