University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa – “Esports as a Lens for Understanding Disability”

Join on Zoom!
The immense global popularity of video games—one of the most powerful mediums for leisure, entertainment, and “sports” (or esports)—offers an important site for exploring issues of disability. In this presentation, Dr. Kauweloa will discuss the engagements of body and technology through video games and how such relationships challenge dominant societal understandings of athleticism, sport, and competition. The talk will also highlight a partnership with the Center on Disability Studies (in conjunction with Dr. Karabelnik) in organizing the nation’s first esports-focused disability camp. Dr. Kauweloa will describe how the camp afforded UH students with physical and intellectual & developmental disabilities access to gaming technologies, esports coaching, and peer mentorship-opportunities that allowed attendees to explore an often unacknowledged yet vital part of their identities as gamers.
Oct 16, 2025
Zoom
3-4:30pm PST/12-1:30pm HST
Oct 16, 2025
Zoom
3-4:30pm PST/12-1:30pm HST