u/acrolicious

For nearly 10 years, my brother Ben lived without digital access, communication, or independence.

Ben has an ultra-rare condition that took his ability to walk, talk, and use his hands. Over the years, we hit brick wall after brick wall with mainstream assistive tech. Eye-tracking failed due to low vision and nystagmus. Head-tracking, EMG switches, and EEG systems didn't work because he lacks the fine motor control required to operate them.

For a decade, his world was limited to left and right head movements for "yes" or "no."

No television access. No games. No independent communication.

Then, AI changed everything.

Because of modern AI tools, I've been able to code and build custom, accessible (and engaging) software over the last two years specifically designed around the only two physical buttons Ben can reliably use.

Watching him regain independence, play games, and navigate digital spaces has been nothing short of a dream come true.

Time matters. Today, we can build better, smarter, and faster than ever before—and it is making an immediate, profound difference in Ben's quality of life. I couldn't be more thankful.

My goal in sharing this is simple: to remind people that there are countless individuals out there facing the exact same barriers, sitting in silence with limited options and outdated gear. But today, there is more hope than ever before.

We don't keep what we build behind a paywall. Everything we create is 100% free and open-source:

* switchedgames.org: Custom, free accessible web games playable with a single switch.

* bennyshub.com: A completely free hub of tools and platforms built for users with specific physical and intellectual access needs.

Every single feature on these platforms is designed to be fully navigable with simple switch inputs, giving individuals with profound physical limitations true independence.

This is why I build.

My brother Ben is nonspeaking and quadriplegic, has low vision, and plays using two head switches mapped to Space and Enter.

That's basically his entire controller.

The problem is there just aren't many actual games made for someone like him. Even when games have great accessibility options, they usually still assume some level of reaction time, vision, motor control, or multiple inputs that Ben doesn't have.

So we've been building our own.

I'm not a game developer. I'm Ben's brother and full-time caregiver. I've worked in media production most of my career and I've basically been learning this stuff by building things with AI.

And lately it has gotten kind of crazy what we're able to make.

The gameplay I'm posting is from Benny's Ballista, a new Three.js game we made based on an idea from my other brother. It's designed around Ben's switches from the start. He can play independently, make choices, change ammunition, fire, etc., without needing quick reflexes.

And he really likes this one. :)

That's why I'm posting it here.

I think there's something happening with AI development that goes beyond just making it faster or cheaper to make games.

It's suddenly becoming possible to build games for incredibly small groups of people who the commercial market has very little reason to build for.

Ben is a perfect example.

There probably isn't a huge commercial market for games specifically designed around someone who is nonspeaking, quadriplegic, has low vision, uses one or two switches, and needs as much time as necessary to make a move.

But I don't really care how big that market is.

I'm building for my brother.

Then we put it out there for free so hopefully somebody else's brother, sister, kid, friend, student, etc. can play too.

We're basically building an arcade around this idea now. One- and two-switch games where switch access isn't an accessibility feature you turn on — it's how the game is meant to be played.

And we're making a lot more.

AI has opened a door for us that I genuinely don't think would have been open a few years ago. I can sit with Ben, see what works and what doesn't, go back and change things, try some ridiculous new game idea, and keep iterating.

We're still figuring all of this out as we go.

But I think there's a huge amount of game design that hasn't been explored for people with conditions like Ben's simply because almost nobody has been building specifically for them.

So that's what we're going to do.

Hope you like the gameplay. If you're interested in what we're building, want to help, or just want to follow along, we have a Discord and everything is free/open source. I'll put all the links and info in a comment.

Thanks for reading. And seriously, this is just the beginning.

Original Post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmile/s/pvsMbXYCKu

My brother Ben has a rare condition called TUBB4A-related leukodystrophy (H-ABC). He's 30 now, but we didn't get a diagnosis until 2024, at 28. For years we had no idea what we were dealing with, or whether anyone else out there had it too.

After the diagnosis, we started searching social media for other families. That's how we found Elouise.

Ben communicates using the tech we built for him, so he and Elouise started texting, and we did a lot of video calls early on. Eventually, it became a dream to actually meet her in person. Ben can't fly, and we didn't have a vehicle that could handle a long drive, so Elouise and her mom flew out to us instead. We spent the whole day together, talking, playing games, and just being friends in person for once. It was everything.

That was almost a year ago.

Since then, we got a new van, and Ben worked hard on building up his stamina for a long drive. This time, we went to them.

It was awesome.

Thank you for watching, and for letting our little story matter to you too.

Hello Everyone!

I posted a while back about using AI to create an accessible tool and game hub for my brother, Ben, who relies on right and left head movements for all input.

For context: Ben has Tubb4a-related Leukodystrophy (H-ABC), a progressive condition that caused him to lose the ability to walk, talk, and use his hands. Eye-tracking doesn't work for him, and he lacks the fine motor control needed for standard head-tracking or mouth switches. He can only turn his head left or right—and eventually, may only have a single input direction.

I made it my mission to give him as much independence and entertainment as possible.

Over the last year, we’ve built him a whole suite of custom tools:

Custom Media & Tools: A streaming app, custom YouTube search, Google Assistant integration, a phrase board, and a real-time conversation app.

3D & Interactive Games: As AI models have advanced, we’ve upgraded from simple board games to fully interactive Three.js-based 3D games—all controlled entirely with 1 or 2 inputs.

Because these types of dedicated, low-input tools and games are so rare, we wanted to make sure other families could use them too.

Everything we build is 100% free, open-source, and requires no login:

Tools & Hub: https://www.bennyshub.com

Games: https://www.switchedgames.org

This fishing game is in development but will be released on Switched Games in the next week or so 😊

This is all made possible through our non-profit! Beyond the software, we also donate free adaptive switch kits (just like the set Ben uses) to anyone who applies.

We’d love for you to check out the sites, share them with anyone who might benefit, or drop any feedback/ideas in the comments!

My brother is nonspeaking and quadriplegic due to a condition called Tubb4a-related Leukodystrophy also known as H-ABC.

He went nearly 10 years mostly just saying yes or no by turning his head.

He moved in with us a few years ago and I used ChatGPT to build a custom solution for him. A solution no other AAC software was solving for his very specific and unique abilities.

Now we share it online free and open source and make content to raise awareness for this use case because if Ben slipped through the cracks then how many more have too?

Thanks for watching and I hope this reaches more families like ours and makes a difference. 🫂

Vibe coded my own fitness app instead of paying for premium features and feel like sharing it with you guys

Some of you probably know me from vibe coding Benny's Hub for my brother. Outside of that, fitness and bodybuilding is my hobby, I run a small casual community called APE (Aesthetic Physique Enthusiast), just people who like lifting for the look, nothing serious.

If you've shopped around for fitness apps you know the good stuff is always locked behind a subscription. It started feeling silly to pay monthly for premium features I could just build myself with AI and use for free. I also didn't want to create yet another account and have my data living somewhere else on someone else's server, having it be fully offline or synced to my own Google Drive was important to me. So I asked, why not just build one?

A few days later I had an app with literally everything I wanted:

- AI food photo scanning (surprisingly accurate), bring your own API key or run it on a local model, and it costs a fraction of a penny per scan

- AI voice assist so you can stay hands free mid workout

- Free barcode scanning with a full food tracker that adjusts your calories to keep you progressing (MyFitnessPal charges for this feature)

- Weight and measurement tracking

- Progress pics that auto generate a timelapse

- Built in workout programs (the ones included are just examples, you can build your own too)

- Imports from most major fitness apps so switching over is easy

- Saves everything to your own Google Drive automatically, or stays fully local if you don't want to sign in with Google

- Any API key you provide gets encrypted through a Cloudflare Worker

- AI Coaching. It'll suggest workout modifications and food adjustments based on your current goal and progress.

- Coach mode, so you can have a coach or coach others yourself, modifying their food/workout plans, leaving notes, seeing their daily progress and check-ins. Not sure that even exists elsewhere like this, I use it with a friend a lot and it works really well

I released it to my community to test and they're actually enjoying it. Between this and everything I've built for my brother, it's wild what you can do with a $20 Claude subscription.

For context on how I built it: I use VS Code with Claude Code (switched from copilot) and Fable to get it started with simple planning prompts for what I wanted, then Sonnet to add features and fix bugs. It's still ongoing but I really like how it turned out.

Not trying to get anyone to switch over or use it, just wanted to show that you can build something seemingly just as powerful, if not more powerful, than what's already out there.

If you wanna check it out: apenth.com

A while back I set out to build a system for my brother Ben that could do more than help him communicate. I wanted him to be able to pick his own shows and movies, search the web, text people, and play games, all independently, using only the two switches he has access to.

I had zero background in programming. No CS degree, no bootcamp, nothing. What I had was VS Code, a Claude subscription, and eventually GitHub Copilot, and I just started building. The first version was a rough Python UI I put together in late 2024. It worked, but it was clunky, slow to update, and hard to extend.

Over the last year I rebuilt the whole thing as an Electron app. That move alone made a huge difference: better performance, a UI that actually feels modern, and a codebase that's way easier for me to iterate on with AI pair programming. Every feature, from the media picker to the custom games we built from scratch to the Discord messaging integration, came out of that same loop: describe what I need, let Claude or Copilot draft it, test it with Ben, refine, repeat. I still don't write code from scratch the traditional way, but I've gotten a lot better at directing the process, debugging output, and understanding what's actually happening under the hood.

The hardest problem was always real time conversation. Switch access is slow by nature, so getting Ben to actual depth and speed in what he can say has been a multi-year sticking point. Recently I integrated AI directly into his communication flow, using speech-to-text and a language model to help predict and build out phrases faster. That one addition changed how quickly he can get a thought across, by a lot.

None of this would have been possible for me without AI tools closing the gap between "I have an idea" and "I can actually build it." That's really the part I think is worth people seeing.

https://github.com/NARBEHOUSE/Benny-s-Accessibility-Hub-2.0

My brother Ben has a rare progressive condition. He is now 30, nonspeaking and quadriplegic with cognitive challenges. Most available assistive technology are too complicated or just not engaging enough for Ben (and very expensive in many cases). So, I decided to build something myself by vibe coding.

It started in late 2024 with a really busted looking Python app that let Ben pick some phrases and a handful of TV shows and movies. That's all. But the success of that proof-of-concept was the spark I needed.

Fast forward to now and it's become a full suite of tools and games Ben can use completely independently. And that's the key word — independently. He now has access to things he waited a decade for.

Ben went years without any system like this because the options that exist that Ben could use are fairly limited. They focus mostly on communication and a handful of basic tools. Most still require eye tracking or multiple inputs to use successfully — things Ben struggles with both physically and cognitively. Many of them still require someone to help him get around the menus and interface... And none of them have games. At least none that are age-appropriate or actually interesting to someone like Ben.

Quick question: do you know of any games that only use 1 or 2 buttons and can be independently accessed by someone with his level of need?

Probably not. Because they didn't exist.

Now they do.

Like a lot of you, I built all of this using VS Code and GitHub Copilot. A few bucks and the ability to describe what you need can get you 90% of the way to a working prototype. The barriers are basically gone.

We have been sharing our story on social media and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. People have been reaching out looking for exactly this kind of thing. So we made everything free and open source. OpenAI, Microsoft, and the BBC all took notice too which is wild.

With all of that being said, I still want to keep posting here periodically because I think it's worth the reminder: AI isn't just for productivity hacks and side hustles. It can genuinely change someone's life. We have that power now. Use it well.

Thanks for reading. 🫂

Ben's games are at https://www.SwitchedGames.org and my guide for building this kind of thing is at https://narbehouse.github.io if anyone wants to help us make or improve games for people like Ben.

Hello everyone, I hope it's ok that I'm posting this here.

I've posted a short about my brother's custom AAC and computer interface with games that I built using AI. I realized I never posted the full video.

https://youtu.be/NXqcyBKxBiQ?si=KA8hNSCmdAigW236

The reason I post this is to hopefully spread enough to find more people like my brother.

Without watching the video, I can tell you he's 30 years old and has a rare progressive condition where he's now nonspeaking and quadriplegic with only right and left head movements for inputs (eye tracking doesn't work because he has nystagmus) Anyway, he went about 10 years with nothing like this and when he moved in with me, we worked together to create a cool system that he actually enjoys using with just right and left head clicks.

We have a ton of custom games on the app that have their own editors (someone can edit games for a customized experience but it's set up to be played completely independently)

And that's the key, he has more independence and doesn't need me or anyone to access these tools for him when he's using a computer.

Watching that come back for him has been awesome so we share all of this stuff freely and open source to hopefully give back to those who might need it and/or inspire someone who isn't technical to maybe build something for someone they know and care about.

We have the hub and guides on our websites and we started a nonprofit to give back and donate switch kits to those who might need them.

Not asking for money! We just wanted to raise awareness because it's hard to find people like my brother out there.

https://narbehouse.github.io

https://www.NARBEFoundation.org

Thanks guys 🫂

6ft, 212lbs to 195lbs

20 Weeks Roughly

Dunno my bodyfat. Thoughts?

I've been lifting pretty consistently since 2011, but I had a back injury in 2013 which got worse, requiring an L5S1 microdiscectomy and laminectomy in 2015. Ever since then, I've had persistent flare-ups in my back and sciatica.

In 2022 it got really bad, and I’ve been having 3–5 month periods where I don't lift at all. 😫 Last year was my longest time off—roughly 8 months.

I started feeling better by early fall of 2025 and I decided to slowly get back into it and used low volume, 4x a week modified bro-split. The only hip hinge movement I do is 45-degree bodyweight hyperextensions about 3x per week, and my leg days consist of: Zercher squats, walking dumbbell lunges, and isolation movements.

Anyway, I thought this was a cool representation of a recomp and wanted to share it.

For transparency, I was on TRT from October 2021 to April 2025. I’ve been off TRT for a year for some health reasons, but I have been able to get my levels into the 500s naturally with some diet and supplement tweaks, thankfully.

I feel alright.