ConnectAbility

Inspiration

The inspiration behind Connect Ability comes from my father. He was born deaf and non-verbal, and growing up, it was difficult for me to communicate with him. As a child, I couldn't share my thoughts or worries the way other kids did with their dads. That unspoken gap left a void I still carry.

But over the years, I started understanding him more—his expressions, his gestures, and the silent language we built together. Even without words, he understands me better than most. Still, I always wished there had been a better way for us to truly connect.

Recently, due to my job, we’ve had to move to a new city. One of the hardest parts of this move has been watching my dad lose the vibrant social life he once had—his group of friends, the local events they attended, the sense of belonging. In this unfamiliar place, he often feels isolated and gloomy, especially as an older adult, where opportunities for connection are already limited.

That’s what sparked this project.

What it does

Connect Ability is more than just an app—it’s a mission to rebuild those lost connections. It's designed to help people like my dad find friends, join community events, and feel seen and included. Eventually, I want to expand it to support two-way communication between non-verbal and verbal individuals, offer inclusive news, and more. But at its heart, this app is about giving people of all abilities a chance to connect, belong, and thrive.

How we built it

Bolt's Vibe Coding Hackathon gave me the perfect opportunity to finally start building a project I had long procrastinated on—one that’s deeply personal and close to my heart. For the tech stack, we have React, TypeScript, and Vite to ensure a fast and scalable foundation. On the AI side, I experimented with various prompting techniques—including zero-shot, one-shot, and few-shot learning—to explore how language models could enhance accessibility and communication within the app.

Challenges we ran into

There were a few challenges I faced during the development process. Some of the errors couldn’t be resolved directly through Vibe Coding, which meant I had to dive deeper into debugging. In several cases, the suggested fixes didn’t apply cleanly, so I often had to go back into the codebase, manually update package versions, and troubleshoot the issues myself. Despite these hurdles, the overall development experience was smooth and rewarding.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

This hackathon wasn’t just about writing code—it was about taking the first real step toward a meaningful solution for people like my father, and others in the community who often go unheard.

What we learned

I gained hands-on experience with different prompting techniques, explored Vibe Coding, and learned how to debug more efficiently with the help of Bolt. Overall, it was a great learning experience that helped me grow both technically and personally.

What's next for ConnectAbility

I want to expand it to support two-way communication between non-verbal and verbal individuals, offer inclusive news, and more. But at its heart, this app is about giving people of all abilities a chance to connect, belong, and thrive.