A short tale about how catching pneumonia got me back playing Pokemon Go while disabled!
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A year ago I was recovering from multiple surgeries on my leg, and needed friends and family to help me around the house. Today I'm also in recovery mode, but from 2 full days walking 25km+ each day during the Kalos tour event all across my local city, on top of all the catch-up raiding I was doing on the Road to Kalos.
I was a day 1 Pokémon Go player, and have been playing every Gen since Yellow back in 1999 – and it's one of my special interests. While I was a pretty casual PoGo player on and off since it released, I had done a few community days & raid events from 2016-2018. When I became physically disabled in 2020 I never thought I'd be able to play this game again, so I uninstalled the game and transferred most of my OG shinies to Pokemon Home.
Jump to August 2025 when I caught pneumonia (zero stars, do not recommend). While cycling through different antibiotics & inhalers to get me back on my feet, my doctor advised increasing my activity by taking a few short walks daily to help my recovery. I use a crutch already due to my arthritis, so already I'm not quite as fast or agile as most folks my age. I re-downloaded Pokémon Go and started using it as a way to drive myself outdoors for these short walks with some extra dopamine from gamifying it.
Suddenly I was spending more time outdoors than I had in years. I embraced the Routes feature. I'd get off my city bus a stop or two early when commuting to play more. I missed raiding 5*s, so after chatting with a friend who still played I downloaded Campfire and started going to local raid hours and meetups.
I met some of the friendliest people at these meetups and quickly became friends with many of them. My social calendar is now ruled by the meetups and events, and I was hyped by all of the events and new releases. I've even got my flights booked for Go Fear this summer!
My disabilities are dynamic in nature so there's definitely more physical hurdles for me than the average player. I rock up to the meetups on whatever mobility aid i need that day, and I adapt my playing that day with what I'm physically able for. It's been such a positive on my physical & mental health I can't help but talk about it constantly too – sorry not sorry to my IRL friends lol. While this game isn't accessible to everyone, I found ways to make it work for me – and I'd love to hear from other disabled players who still find ways to enjoy the game ✨
by ScreamingAtTheMovies