How I learned to code with my voice
February 7, 2025
In January 2025, I developed excruciating pain and pins and needles in my hands, which made it very difficult to type and use my trackpad. I panicked. I couldn’t work. And if I couldn’t work, I couldn’t earn money. And if I couldn’t earn money, I couldn’t afford to eat or pay my mortgage. I was actually really, really, scared.
Salma Allam-Naylor tells the story of losing the ability to code with her hands and learning how to do so with her voice.
Josh Comeau also wrote about his similar experience.
You might one day find this valuable in your own life.
Or it might help to reinforce the reality that we are all often situationally disabled–trying to send a text via voice while driving (where this is legal), temporarily disabled (you injure a hand or arm or leg) and more commonly than we’d want to admit to ourselves, permanently disabled.
So despite what recent events in the US might suggest, accessibility (like all forms of equity and inclusion) is profoundly important. It is a human right. And you personally, those you love, and we collectively all benefit from it.
