Ok, I have solved every problem I have had and this is the last hurdle.
I have this HAT and following the documentation:
https://www.waveshare.com/wiki/1.44inch_LCD_HAT
Except in the demos in C and Python the button presses on the hat do not get detected.
I manually wrote a script in python to output ot the console when a button is pressed by following this guide (it uses RPIO):
https://raspberrypihq.com/use-a-push-button-with-raspberry-pi-gpio/
With the Waveshare Demo and that guide, it does still not detect any button presses. I am a bit lost on how to test it.