The Ministry of Education sponsored a contest for junior high-school 
students designed to help solve problems for disabled people, The Jerusalem
POST reported. The contest challenged students to use technology to create
tools to ease the daily lives of the disabled. Inventions making it easier
for the disabled to use computers, make coffee and mix paint received top
prizes at the final awards ceremony which was held on Wednesday.

	Over 1,000 students participated in the contest. Participants were 
encouraged to meet with disabled members of their communities to learn about
the challenges they face on a daily basis. Joel Rothschild, one of the
judges, said, "I was very moved by the relationships developed between the
students and disabled individuals."

	The first prize was awarded to a group of students from Herzliya who
developed a manual paint mixer. The students met with a disabled painter,
who holds his brush in his mouth. He told them he was having difficulty
mixing and dispensing paint from bottles and tubes. The manual mixer allows
one to mix paint without using his or her hands.