In January 2024, I had an ischemic stroke. Some of my left-brain cells got damaged and it partially impaired the right side of my body.
I went through a ton of therapies:
Physical therapy got me on my feet again.
Speech therapy helped me restore communication skills and even swallowing abilities.
I also did a series of occupational therapies to help improve my daily living skills.
I was very proud to have a colorful collection of occupational therapy gadgets for my right hand and fingers.
But as a software engineer, I felt there was still a gap in computer-related skills – for example, typing, moving mouse cursor, clicking mouse button, selecting or dragging objects or text, and scrolling. For me, during my early days of recovery, even double clicking and selecting text were particularly hard.
I tried to go to the internet to find some tools or web sites that could help people practice typing or using mouse.
But most of them only provide generic exercises or childish games for typing or using a mouse but don’t have tailored practices for computer workers recovering from brain injuries (like stroke). And for some of them, you must pay to use them or see a swamp of ADs on their web sites.
I decided to build a platform to address this. Partnered with my daughter, we built a website called darinow.org.
The principle of this web app (and the principle of most post-stroke rehabilitation in general) is “Use It or Lose It“. That is, keep practicing your weaker side, so the new cells in your brain can relearn how to use that side properly. Otherwise, your brain will eventually forget it and you will lose its ability.
darinow.org provides exercises for fundamental tasks (i.e., typing, pointing, clicking, selecting, dragging, and scrolling) that one needs to do daily on a computer for their occupation or daily life.
The exercises can be tailored to suit your focus, be it programming (like me!), finance, HR, or just surfing the web! More are coming!
Here are a few examples of different exercises tailored to different focuses.
The website also provides a few mini games to practice “Clicking” and “Dragging”.
So that is the rehabilitation app I built for stroke (or brain injury) survivors like me to improve their skills of using a computer. This web app (and the non-profit organization behind it) is something I’m truly passionate about besides my work as a software engineer. Recovering from a stroke while needing to work on digital devices has been a tough road, and I’ve experienced firsthand the frustrations that come with it. The support I’ve received from the professional care provider teams, my family, friends, and colleagues – has been incredible, and this project is my way of giving back. I just want to make sure it’s genuinely helpful for people facing similar challenges.
I’m hoping to get feedback from stroke and brain injury survivors, caregivers, and therapists to help refine D.A.R.I. Partnering with local facilities would be a huge step forward. I also plan to reach out to a few stroke survivors’ communities to share the project and gather input.
If you check out https://darinow.org, you’ll see D.A.R.I. is still in its early days, with just a handful of exercises and features available. But we’re working hard to build it out, adding more functionality and support for additional occupational scenarios. I’m also developing an offline version so users can still access it without an internet connection (like in some rehabilitation facilities).
Use It or Lose It!