How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy • Hacker News Board

Re: How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy

#21

Post by danparsonson » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 1:45 PM UTC

PetitPrince wrote: post #18

That's cool ! Kind reminder that you can be disabled and still kick ass in videogames. I have in mind Brolylegs (RIP) [1] who ranked very well in competitive Street Fighter 4, despite having to play with his literal face. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrolyLegs

See also BlindWarriorSven, another Street Fighter legend, who as his name suggests is blind.

Re: How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy

#22

Post by stodor89 » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 3:08 PM UTC

PetitPrince wrote: post #18

That's cool ! Kind reminder that you can be disabled and still kick ass in videogames. I have in mind Brolylegs (RIP) [1] who ranked very well in competitive Street Fighter 4, despite having to play with his literal face. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrolyLegs

In Warcraft 3 we had Space: https://liquipedia.net/warcraft/Space

Re: How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy

#23

Post by VonGuard » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

I am a board member of this org, and I wanted to post the link for donation in here. GOAT is dedicated to open sourcing and open copyrighting materials, schematics, and standards for accessibility hardware. Remember the guy with the robotic legs, and the manufacturer turned them off remotely? That kinda stuff simply cannot be allowed to happen.

GOAT is a fantastic organization, and when Andrei, who wrote this blog, asked for help with his wheelchair, GOAT found the parts he needed, put someone on a plane to his country, and installed the equipment. Andrei was able to go the park for the first time in years, as a result.

Please consider giving to GOAT. It's so rare for a nonprofit to be this scrappy and life changing for people. It's awesome. https://www.openassistivetech.org/contribute/

Re: How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy

#24

Post by tsol » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 8:07 PM UTC

Very cool. I have a friend with cerebral palsy and he has very little movement in his hands. I'd love to connect him with these kinds of devices but he has an intellectual disability that makes it especially tough. I wish there was an easy affordable way to get someone who can give advice to a guy like him. He's learned to use an iPhone because SIRI does a lot of things for him, but computers are difficult for him. Which is very limiting

Re: How I play video games with spinal muscular atrophy

#25

Post by love0972 » Tue, Jun 23, 2026, 1:21 AM UTC

Great point on the Xbox Adaptive Controller — the open source hardware angle makes this even more important. If manufacturers can remotely disable devices, open alternatives become critical infrastructure.