
RAREsolutions.
A poster competition with a conscience…change by design
RAREsolutions is an exciting poster design competition launched as part of the RAREfest20 online festival. RAREfest is a free, virtual public festival raising awareness about rare disease by having fun with science, technology and the arts.
Life can throw up all sorts of accessibility challenges for those living with rare conditions. Check out the design challenge films by our RAREambassadors, people like you who want to live life to the full but are finding their environment makes that tough.
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?
WHO CAN ENTER?
It’s open to all students in full-time education or training (UK year group 7-13 and Scottish/NI equivalent).
WATCH THE CHALLENGE FILMS
Select the challenge you’d like to create a solution for and create your entry on the poster template provided. Submit by Monday 9th November 2020.
WINNERS
A winner will be selected from each age group – Junior, Intermediate & Senior.

The overall winner of the RAREsolutions competion will take the coveted title of Jonathan Milner’s RAREsolutions designer of the Year 2020 and the winner and runner’s up will receive cash prizes of £50
Eilidh, Elin and Harsha invite you to check out their challenge films…
Vaila, an architect, and her children Eilidh and Elliot show you around their village playground. Can you help make playtime more fun and accessible for both of them and other kids?
Find out more about Eilidh’s rare condition KAT6a and use this to guide you in your poster.
Harsha and Elin from Cambridge Goalball team have a rare visual impairment. They travel a lot with their team – can you help them design a safe way to push an airport or luggage trolley when holding a cane or their guide dog in one hand? Find out more about Retina Blastoma to guide your design.
Let your IMAGINATION run wild…
RAREsolutions competition closes in...
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Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge that swept the world where celebrities Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Cruise had a bucket of ice tipped over their heads for a charity? Well, that was about ALS, a rare neurological disease which the late cosmologist Prof. Stephen Hawking lived with.
Or perhaps you’ve seen actress Liz Carr in Silent Witness? Did you know she has a rare disease called Arthrogryposis multiplex congenita or AMC and has been a wheelchair user since the age of 7?
How about Venus Williams, Missy Elliott and Warwick Davis shown opposite? Can you discover which rare conditions they have?
Rare Diseases are rare – there are some people who are the only one in the world know to have their condition. Yet they’re also strangely common…

There are over 8000 different rare diseases so added together there are over 3 million people affected in the UK, 35 million across Europe and 350 million worldwide living with a rare condition at some point in their life and many of those affected are children.
When you have a rare disease, things can be tricky. Whilst some have fewer physical symptoms, others can be devastatingly disabling.
Stephen Hawking’s motor neurone disease was diagnosed at 21 and he was given 2 years to live. It gradually paralysed him over the decades. Even after the loss of his speech, he was still able to communicate, initially through use of a hand-held switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. He went on to live a full and active life to the age of 76.
People and companies around the world are helping to create accessibility and inclusive solutions to everyday problems to help people live more independent lives.