Lack of ability to communicate can be one of the most frustrating handicaps that
people face. Augmentative and alternative communication
(AAC) aids have been developed to assist the communication
process of people who have a language impairment.
Often, these aids include the use of symbols. The ideographic
symbols, being linked to a meaning (contrary to text, which in the
western hemisphere is more or less a transcription of speech),
make them suitable for persons with a wide range of language
disorders.
The example below shows how symbols can be used for
communication.
This image shows six different ways to express the same sentence: "For my birthday, father gives me a small dog". Vertically, each single concept is represented in different languages (keywords) and in different symbol systems (PCS, Picto, Bliss).
It is estimated that about 5.6 million people in the EC have some language impairment (often related to a range of cognitive and/or physical impairments) life long. Down's syndrome (which affects one in 650 persons), Autism, birth injury or infections such as meningitis can create language impairment. On top of this, a growing group of (mostly elderly) persons with Aphasia (which is a problem often seen after cardiovascular accident or stroke), Dysphasia and Alzheimer diseases acquire similar language impairments.
