How To Modify A Playstation Controller For Muscular Dystrophy

I’ve been doing these game controller modifications, to make gaming easier for people who have physical disabilities, for a few years now. Over that time, I’ve come up with a method that is quick, relatively easy, fully functional, but a bit ugly.

The most common complaint I get is that people can’t “click” the thumbsticks. If you don’t game much, that’s where you press directly down on a thumbstick and it activates a button.

To overcome this, I simply add a tiny momentary switch somewhere else for them to click. These little momentary switches are actually the same thing that is embedded in the joystick.

By simply soldering a tiny wire from the button within the controller to the button on the outside, you can move that functionality.

But it is so ugly! 

Yup, it’s ugly. There are more beautiful ways it could be done. I could probably engineer and 3d print a custom shell for every single one, but that would take a considerable amount of my time. There are 2 reasons I don’t do that.

1. each controller I do has custom button placement
2. I do this for free in my spare time and don’t want to devote MORE time than necessary to it

I use hot glue to hold things in place because it holds well and also it feels nice and soft on the hand while holding the controller.