I didn’t want to refer to myself as disabled for a long time. I didn’t want to say the word “disabled” or the words “differently abled” – and I didn’t want to admit that my health wasn’t what it used to be in spite of the fact that I’ve needed to walk with the help of a cane or walking stick since more or less the age of 17.

But since I discovered bridge, started playing and started writing about the topic, the game and community of bridge has helped to make the concept of disability easier to accept and much easier to deal with.

Why Bridge is Great

First, thanks to people in the bridge community – and for that matter, in the larger card-and-board community, too. Interviewees, editors, opponents, partners, friends, writers. There are more names than I can write down here, and for now a general thanks.

I’ve never been judged for physical limitations or bad days in this community, and I’ve received kind messages from many people who care when there was a need for it. Very few other online communities can have similar bonds.

The gaming community has been accepting. On good days, on bad days.

Thanks for that.

Why BBO is Great Too

Why play on Bridge Base Online?

Other than the reason that I enjoy doing it, my reasons for choosing it go a little beyond this.

For now, I’m very rarely seen at in-person club games. This might change in the future, or it might stay this way for a while. As of now, I’m not sure  how I feel on most days are unpredictable – and I’m not up the feat of traveling the distance it takes on the majority of days.

Force me into traveling and I can tell a few things for sure: I’m going to be a nightmare thanks to back pain, and I’m probably going to need to pee every five minutes. It’s not a fun reality, but it’s the truth. I don’t think I’ve ever sat through a single movie in a cinema in the past ten years without needing to pee before the end – thanks to spinal issues, that is.

It’s one of the inconvenient truths that I’m sure a lot of disabled (and for that matter, older) people and players out there can relate to.

Logging into BBO means that I get to play bridge no matter where I am or what I’m doing – and I don’t throw the balance of an entire table or game out just by needing to go, “I need to pee again.”

Of course, it’s not all about urinary habits.

There are a lot of other reasons why I prefer to play online games rather than in-person ones for the time being: The effort it takes to get from one end of the room to the next, the tiredness on the way home and the fact that pain takes a few seconds to entirely mess up my focus when I’ve had to travel to anywhere to get there.

Bridge Base Online allows me to interact with players and clubs all over the world – instantly – and especially as someone who is disabled, it makes the outside world more accessible from where I’m sitting.

Can any other players relate?