[community] Cognitive access / simplified documents

Fri Aug 12 13:31:49 UTC 2016

Thanks for the offer Donna. It's not a project I'm working on -- it was just on the website of a conference I was attending. I shared it with the community more as an interesting example, especially since the general population including the design community doesn't likely interact a lot with people who are using voice output communication aids (VOCAs) and other devices that use symbols like this. 

For anyone who is interested, here's a video on a boy and his speech language therapist and mother and his communication systems (low tech and high tech): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIGrxzPMVtw, symbol use starts at about 1 minute. And here's an older IDRC page on VOCAs: http://idrc.ocadu.ca/research-and-development/13-resources/technical-glossary/49-voice-output-communication-aids 

Your sister in law is welcome to look at it and give feedback to ISAAC -- she might even be an ISAAC member already -- but I don't think it's a huge priority and might not be worth her taking extra time, as half of ISAAC are SLPs, so I'd assume it's been heavily vetted from the AAC SLP perspective.  Thanks!
Julia

-----Original Message-----
From: Donna Saccutelli [mailto:ds03xi at student.ocadu.ca] 
Sent: August 11, 2016 4:19 PM
To: Foster, Julia <jfoster at ocadu.ca>
Cc: Ambrose Cheuk-Wing Li <al12si at student.ocadu.ca>; Inclusive Design Community <community at lists.idrc.ocadu.ca>
Subject: Re: [community] Cognitive access / simplified documents

Hello All
My sister in law Louise Dix us a Speech Path and works at Bloorview. 

Would you want to contact her. 

Donna 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 11, 2016, at 3:44 PM, Foster, Julia <jfoster at ocadu.ca> wrote:
> 
> I'm not a speech language pathologist, so don't have significant expertise in symbol based communication, but I should have clarified that this is for a population who uses augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, a number of which are symbol based. Good point that you added re cognitive load because it's good to note that it might not be ideal for everyone and just like anything one format might increase the cognitive load for one person and decrease it for another person. Not being an AAC user, I can't comment, but I assume for at least some AAC users, it would decreased the cognitive load, as it I think it was created by speech language pathologists with expertise in the area of symbol selection. 
> 
> So it's not plain English, but it is another example of different ways to format information. I don't know much about graphic design, but perhaps this highlights more need for collaboration between AAC and graphic design for mutual benefit/increased undertanding?
> 
> Julia
> 
> Julia Foster, MscOT, OT Reg. (Ont.)
> Coordinator, Vision Technology Service Inclusive Design Research 
> Centre
> 
> Telephone: (416) 977-6000, ext. 3966
> Fax: (416) 977-9844
> Email: jfoster at ocadu.ca
> OCAD UNIVERSITY
> 205 Richmond St. W., 2nd floor, Toronto, ON, M5V 1V3 www.ocadu.ca
> 
> Confidentiality Notice:  This e-mail message is intended only for the named recipient(s) above and may contain information that is privileged,confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under law.  If you are not the intended  recipient(s), any disclosure, copying or distribution of this information or action taken in reliance on this information is strictly prohibited by the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and/or Personal Health Information Protection Act.   If you have received this message in error, or are not the named recipient(s), please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your co-operation.
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: Ambrose Cheuk-Wing Li [al12si at student.ocadu.ca]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 4:18 PM
> To: Foster, Julia
> Cc: Inclusive Design Community
> Subject: Re: [community] Cognitive access / simplified documents
> 
> Personally I find the “Easy English” format very distracting and 
> extremely difficult to read. The format also violates several graphic 
> design principles and I am surprised they expect this to be easy to 
> understand. Instead of reducing cognitive load I would have expected 
> this to *increase* cognitive load (having to constantly ignore various 
> forms of active emphasis, for example, or constantly flipping backward 
> to find the beginning of the sentence).
> 
> I'm also curious what the relationship this has with Plain English.
> 
> 
>> On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 2:19 PM, Foster, Julia <jfoster at ocadu.ca> wrote:
>> Just wanted to share a nice example of an easy to read version for the ISAAC conference<https://www.isaac-online.org/english/conference-2016/code-of-conduct/> code of conduct:
>> 
>> *         Full format<https://www.isaac-online.org/english/conference-2016/code-of-conduct/>
>> 
>> *         Easy format (PDF)<https://www.isaac-online.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Final-Easy-English-ISAAC-CoC.pdf>
>> I didn't test it with a screenreader, so for screen reader users, the images are symbols to represent the text they stand beside (something an individual who communicates through symbols or symbols and words might use).
>> 
>> Julia Foster, MScOT, OT Reg. (Ont.)
>> Coordinator, Vision Technology Service & SNOW Inclusive Design 
>> Research Centre
>> 205 Richmond ST. W., 2nd Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 1V3
>> 
>> Telephone: 416 977 6000 x3966<tel:416%20977%206000%20x3966>
>> Fax: 416 977 9844<tel:416%20977%209844>
>> Email: jfoster at ocadu.ca<mailto:jfoster at ocadu.ca>
>> 
>> Vision Technology 
>> Service<http://idrc.ocad.ca/index.php/services/33-services/57>
>> Employment Accommodation 
>> Service<http://idrc.ocad.ca/index.php/services/34-services/consultati
>> on/58> SNOW<http://snow.idrc.ocad.ca/> - Education, Access and You!
>> Follow SNOW on Twitter<http://twitter.com/#!/SNOWocad> & Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/SNOW-Special-Needs-Opportunity-Window/159523477400278>!
>> 
>> OCAD University<http://www.ocadu.ca/>
>> 
>> Confidentiality Notice:  This e-mail message is intended only for the named recipient(s) above and may contain information that is privileged,confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under law.  If you are not the intended  recipient(s), any disclosure, copying or distribution of this information or action taken in reliance on this information is strictly prohibited by the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and/or Personal Health Information Protection Act.   If you have received this message in error, or are not the named recipient(s), please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your co-operation.
>> 
>> ________________________________________
>> Inclusive Design Community (community at lists.idrc.ocadu.ca) To manage 
>> your subscription, please visit: 
>> http://lists.idrc.ocadu.ca/mailman/listinfo/community
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Ambrose Li
> http://port.ambroseli.ca
> ________________________________________
> Inclusive Design Community (community at lists.idrc.ocadu.ca) To manage 
> your subscription, please visit: http://lists.idrc.ocadu.ca/mailman/listinfo/community