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Ask HN: Software engineer with broken arm, any tips?

6 points9 comments0.4 average comments/hourSubmitted by spapas82

Submitted Nov 11, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC. This is a public Hacker News submission, not reporting by HackerHub.

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I broke my right hand after a hard fall in the rain (I am right handed). Any tips on how to improve my computer usage with one hand? TIA

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Leftium · Nov 11, 2026, 10:03 PM UTC
Some pro tips on how to use voice-to-text (from engineers who broke their arms): - Sub-vocal dictation (mic): https://youloop.leftium.com/NvVbCqDgfCs/520~733?speed=2 - Handy - Free open-source speech-to-text: https://hw.leftium.com/i/44302416
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riteshsethia7 · Nov 11, 2026, 7:51 PM UTC
Granola or Wisper flow should help you a bit, or with some research you can find open source alternatives which can work locally using on device LLM.
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catchnear4321 · Nov 11, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC
Speech to text has come a long ways. Personally dislike it, but even then, have found myself using it on occasion. If you’re using an LLM as part of this, it was already faster at typing, so lean into that.
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debrisontrack · Nov 11, 2026, 5:49 PM UTC
Don't break your other arm too. Just kidding, sorry for your injury and get well soon. As for a real tip, since you mentioned software engineer specifically, I think you are using the keyboard a lot, so you obviously must've looked into voice/speech to text related stuff, but for the mouse usage, I can recommend those small form factor wireless/bluetooth keyboards with the touchpad portion in the top center, those are fairly easy to use even with the non dominant hand (or even with the fingertips of the broken side, if you can move those). I won't link here directly, but they look like small game controllers and are relatively cheap, are also called media pc keyboards or home theater, media center keyboards etc.
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giantg2 · Nov 11, 2026, 10:55 PM UTC
You can burp the worm with your other hand. It will feel strange at first if you're not used to it.
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