App provides visual ‘how-to’s’ for independent living

 The MagnusCards app was created to provide support to neurodiverse individuals who find navigating public transit or shopping for groceries challenging. 

 Nadia Hamilton is the founder of Magnusmode, which developed the app and the interactive guides that help its users gain self-confidence and independence. Growing up, Hamilton’s autistic brother Troy required prompting for brushing his teeth. It was not that he did not know what to do; his anxiety of doing it wrong just overwhelmed him. 

 To help him, she drew step-by-step instructions he could follow. “[It] gave him the structure to see the task from start to finish and rely on it for support,” said Hamilton. In viewing how the guides also benefited clients at the Geneva Centre for Autism in Toronto, where she worked during her studies, she contemplated wider use. 

 “After high school, Troy graduated to the couch like so many autistic adults,” reflected Hamilton. “I realized that I had so many options in life, and the world was shut to him.” 

 On a whim, she submitted a proposal to the Toronto-based Centre for Social Innovation competition in 2011 – and won. Partnering with developers, she created lifestyle card decks on themes such as personal care, navigation and shopping to assist individuals who struggle with executive function (the sequencing of tasks). 

 The Magnusmode company – a name Hamilton described as being a combination of “magnus” (the Latin word for “great”) and “mode” (a way of doing something) – went from “a brother and sister recognizing a problem to 35,000 downloads and 65 corporate sponsors with Card Decks that guide people through their services and offerings.” 

 Thanks to corporate sponsors like Toronto Pearson International Airport, Metrolinx and Metro grocery stores, which offer their own branded card decks for navigating stores and experiences within MagnusCards, the app is free to the public. 

 “Creating a positive and inclusive shopping experience is our utmost priority,” shared Trader Joe’s on the MagnusCards’ website. For its part, the Toronto Transit Commission wrote: “This is one more step… to remove barriers to access for all transit riders.” 

 Several Magnusmode team members are neurodiverse themselves, combining firsthand insight with a methodology that resonates. On the app’s reviews page, one user confided, “This app is the reason I [was able] to take the public bus by myself for the first time.” 

 Starting as a small family project, Hamilton’s business is now helping other “Troys” worldwide who just need a chance. Kathy, the parent of a MagnusCards app user, shared on the company site, “[they] have made me feel that my daughter Rachel will be able to do things…because she can learn them.”