Inventor John Dingley created a “simple device that allows anyone with co-ordination impairment, muscle weakness or hand tremor to turn the pages more easily on a Kindle e-reader”.

He started making him at the request of people who had difficulties using their Kindle e-reader because they had trouble using the small button on the side of the device that are meant to turn the pages.

João Carlos Martins is a world-renowned pianist and conductor from Brazil, known for his extraordinary interpretations of the work of Bach. But he went through a troubled career: several injuries, accidents and chronic diseases systematically compromised his ability to play the piano. Through the years, the pianist underwent 24 surgeries that tried to maintain his abilities but with no success.

The UK government has partnered with the University of Cambridge’s Social Decision-Making Lab and the Dutch media agency Drog to design a game that teaches people how to recognize fake news about the Covid-19 pandemic.

The game teaches players about the tactics used to spread misinformation and challenges them to use those techniques to become a successful media manipulator. In the process, players are shown how to identify common manipulation techniques like the use of emotional language to spark fear and outrage or the naming of fake experts to support their baseless claims.

As a paraplegic and wheelchair user, when Sharina Jones became pregnant with her first child she immediately started to think about finding solution to the challenges she would face being a disabled mother. One of those challenges was how she would be able to push her baby’s stroller while pushing her own wheelchair at the same time. “I was thinking ahead, because you always have to think ahead. After that first doctor’s appointment, we started asking, ‘How are we going to do this? And this? And this?’”, Rashida explains.

For 30 years, Vicky’s father, Gordon, had worked as a joiner in a carpentry workshop which took a toll on his knees. He suffered from arthritis and complained of constant pain and discomfort. “His knees had taken a beating over the past 30 years and current gel and foam pads on the market just weren’t cutting it”, Vicky says.

When they were about to become parents, Christina Mills and her husband had a hard time finding a baby crib that would fit their needs. Christina and her husband are both short stature and Christina uses a wheelchair so it would be very hard for them to use a common crib, with high frames that requires babies to be picked up and put down from a height. Searching the market, they found only one product that could be a good fit but it was overpriced and they couldn’t afford it.

In Portugal, at the beginning of 2021, the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic put tremendous pressure on the hospitals and healthcare services. Hospitals were exceeding their capacity, healthcare professionals were overworked and lacking appropriate condition to be able to rest, and emergency rooms were overcrowded, with patients having to wait for hours for their turn.

Mark Fleming was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome at 11 years, a diagnosed which helped explained why he had always exhibited poor movement coordination, difficulty maintaining balance and the frequent falls. But Mark had always loved sports and exercise so, through hard work, he eventually became a certified personal trainer, with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in exercise science and human performance from the University of Alabama.

Along with the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world also had to deal with the spread of misinformation about the disease. In fact, the problem gain such a huge proportion that the World health Organization classified the spread of false information as an infodemic. To help combat this problem, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) launched the #CoronaVirusFacts / #DatosCoronaVirus Alliance.

Lisa Gluckstein and Divya Gopal are two roommates living in San Francisco. When the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in the United States, the two friends decided that, as roommates, they needed to have “an honest conversation about what living together responsibly during a pandemic looks like.“ And so, they wrote down the main point they needed to address and the agreements they came to during the conversation.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Rahul Khanna D (known as “the lonely programmer”) decided to use his skills as a Computer Vision Engineer to create a solution that would help fight the coronavirus.

Sarah Baldwin, Mary Gregorian and Julie Nemerson suffer form Tourette syndrome and have created a comic book, based on their own experiences, that shines a new light on their condition. The story follows Trisha, a teenage girl with Tourette syndrome who would twitch and make sounds she couldn’t control and was bullied at school. Until one day, Tritsha realizes that her quirks, what made her different, were actually her biggest strengths – her superpower! So, Trisha decided to use her powers to help other who also felt different and became a superhero – Twitcha!

Holly Bramwell’s son Finley suffers from global developmental delay, hypermobility, epilepsy and is non-verbal. These conditions are challenging by themselves, but particularly in public because the family often found themselves having to explain Finley’s condition to people, to justify some of his behaviors or the fact that at 5-years-old he still used a stroller, as Holly explains: “To look at him, these disabilities may not be plainly obvious and so we are often met with confusing looks when our 5 year old doesn’t respond to people and is sat in a pram!”

Bentley was born with microtia, a condition which prevent the complete formation of the ears. He also suffers from vision problems but, due to his ear deformity, his mother Kris couldn’t find glasses for him - all the glasses available required the frame to be placed on both ears. After endless search, his mom decided to take matter into her own hands: "I did what all moms do, I thought I could fix this and I bought $250 worth of crafting supplies and tried to "mom engineer" something".

Susan Banks had a love of video games but found that her deafness would sometimes prevent from playing certain games. In one particular occasion, she bought a video game that at a certain stage requires players to be able to listen to the game’s environment – Susan couldn’t do that so she could not advance in the game. “I died about 15 times before I realized I wouldn’t be able to do that part. Being that it was maybe an hour into the game, I’d just wasted $60”, Susan explained.

Kerry Mellin suffered from arthirtitis and has finding it increasingly hard to perform everyday tasks. One day, as Kerry explains in her own words: “While preparing for a family holiday I grabbed my broom and went to sweep out the barn. But due to the arthritis in my thumbs I was having a really hard time gripping onto the brooms handle and sweep after sweep it only became more painful. (...) I grabbed some duct tape, made a loop across the broom handle and slipped my hand inside. I was really surprised how effortless it felt having this little bit of support over the back of my hand!

Hisashi Imai developed an adaptation for a common nail clipper for his friend, Mr. Kuriki, who sufferes from hemiplegia. Due to this condition, Mr. Kuriki has lost motor skills on the left side of his body, being unable to use his left hand to maneuver common objects like a nail clipper.

Hisashi Imai came up with a way for Mr. Kuriki to be able to trim the nails on his right hand by creating a support that holds the clipper in place on a flat surface and allows Mr. Kuriki to simply put downward pressure on the clipper’s lever using his left hand.

One of Iain’s friends and co-workers asked for his help in a project: being blind, the friend needed an adapted guitar tuner, that would give out audible signals. Most commercially available guitar tuners had an LED display or an LCD, making them useless for blind musicians.

Chloe Meineck’s great-grandmother Winnie suffers from dementia. At the age of 104 she could still play the piano but could never recognized Chloe whenever she visited her at the nursing home. However, when hearing certain song, Winnie’s memory was awoken and she would start recounting stories from the past. That intrigued Chloe, who explains: “I was always interested and really confused how she could play the piano, but not remember who I was.“

Tyler’s father, Patrick, is a US Army veteran who served in Iraq in 2006. When he returned home to his family, Patrick was diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and started suffering from recurring nightmares. "I was scared of closing my eyes. They were just horrible, so vivid, I'd wake up thrashing and sweating”, Patrick explains. Patrick ended up resorting to alcohol and sleeping pills to help him manage the nightmares, but the addiction had severe negative impacts on his life.