‘People are pretty stunned, slightly excited or mind boggled’
Further to an announcement that it would donate a new prosthetic limb to a gamer, Konami — in partnership with the BBC — has released a documentary following double amputee James Young and his “bodyhack” journey.
Young lost both an arm and a leg when he was dragged beneath a London Tube train in 2012. Following his recovery, he saw an advertisement from Konami inviting submissions from amputee gamers to apply for a limb “thematically modelled” on Snake’s prosthetic, and applied.
The documentary kicks off a little PR-heavy — particularly with clips from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain shoehorned into the production — but settles into an enlighting look into the development, and drawbacks, of “cyborg” technology.
It also highlights the everyday difficulties for disabled people and the outstanding work done by advocates like Young who strive to normalise disability and celebrate difference.
“With my new bionic prosthesis, you can see in the documentary, people are pretty stunned, slightly excited or mind boggled,” Young said in an accompanying Reddit AMA. “I think maybe we got it looking pretty cool, which pleases me. In general people seem happy to kind of think or be aware I am ‘making an effort’ to ‘return to normality’ so they don’t tut… but mostly they look very confused, which works for me.”
“Phantom Pain is all too real… or is it… but, yeah, it hurts,” he added, when another commenter asked him about the phenomenon. “It varies per patient but mine has stuck around for 4 years and doesn’t appear to be going anywhere fast. I take 4 different medications to suppress it to a workable level (if I’m well rested).”
The show’s available below (as embedded from BBC iPlayer), and via BBC Three’s Youtube. Be wary of potential Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain spoilers, though.
Can’t wait to hear what you think.
