Peter Byrne, Man With Cerebral Palsy, Gets Customized PlayStation 4 Controller
Peter Byrne loves playing video games, but after recently purchasing a PlayStation 4, the avid gamer, who has cerebral palsy, was having difficulty using the system’s controller.
“When I play, I would hit the touchpad with my hand,” Byrne, 21, told News 12 New Jersey. “It’s very sensitive, [so] it would pause the game.” Byrne,of South Amboy, New Jersey, contacted Sony about the issue, and the next day, a PlayStation employee named Alex Nawabi responded.
Nawabi told Byrne he was going to take on the matter “personally and not on behalf of PlayStation,” Byrne wrote in a post on his Facebook page. After exchanging a few emails, Nawabi told Byrne he wasn’t able to come up with a solution, but he was still going to send Byrne a PlayStation goodie box.
On March 29, Byrne received a package from Playstation. In it was a letter from Nawabi — along with a custom PlayStation 4 controller. Byrne was stunned — Nawabi admitted he wanted it to be a surprise, hence why he fibbed about the controller in their previous correspondence.
“I never in my wildest dreams expected to receive a modified controller from PlayStation,” Byrne told The Mighty. “When I wrote my initial email I honestly thought they would just make note of it and maybe address it in the future. When I received the box I got choked up because seeing he spent 10+ hours, breaking 3 controllers and a bit of frustration to make the controller was amazing. I honestly was surprised he went above and beyond what I expected.”
Byrne shared Nawabi’s letter on Facebook, along with a photo of the modified controller:
I figure I share this story with everyone because it is too good not to share! When I use the PlayStation 4 controller…
Posted by Peter Byrne on Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Byrne wrote:
I figure I share this story with everyone because it is too good not to share! When I use the PlayStation 4 controller my game constantly pauses because my left hand hits the touchpad which is frustrating for me. Around two weeks ago, I decided to message PlayStation support and they gave this email address and said tell them my issue and wait for a response. A man by the name of Alex Nawabi from PlayStation messaged me and told me he was taking my matter personally and not on behalf of PlayStation. I explained to him my problem with a controller as well as my condition of cerebral palsy. I even had to give him a visual of what my left hand looked like gripping the controller. After a series of back and forth emails. Mr. Nawabi told me he was ordering some parts to come up with a solution for me. He emailed he last week saying that he tried to come up with a solution but it didn’t work. However, he would send me a PlayStation goodie box anyway. I received that box today and inside was the modified controller especially made for me and this letter. I honestly got choked up reading the letter as I did not expect anything like this to happen. Mr. Nawabi really cared about my situation and did this on his own time to make my experience better. I honestly can’t thank him enough for everything he did for me. Thank you Mr. Nawabi it really means a lot too me!
“He said that it’s the first time he’s ever done something like this,” Byrne added to News 12 New Jersey. “He did more than I ever expected.”