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If you are in danger, please use a safer computer, call 911 or your local hotline or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233 voice), 1-800-787-3224 (tty). There is always a computer trail, but you can click ESCAPE to leave the site quickly.

Issue Related to the Information Environment

People with brain injury, some learning disabilities, and others may need additional support remembering important dates, details, and information.  A person with a recent injury may be unaware of how difficult these functions have become.

Visual information and assistive technology can be critically important tools for transferring information. It is important to design all print materials and web sites with diverse users in mind. That includes people who need multiple methods of delivering the same information ("redundant" information) and who may have trouble understanding sequential information.

Examples

  • A local design school, in partnership with sexual assault/domestic violence providers, creates a brochure on stalking after one of their students was badly hurt by a stalker. They opted to use a popular graphics professor to design the piece. It was visually striking but had 9 point font, overlays of print onto a background screen of photos on shiny paper.  Students found it attractive but few read it. There was no clue in the design as to which information was more important than any other. It was impossible to skim for pertinent facts.  The school body consisted of 40% foreign students for whom English was not a first language and it was estimated the between 25 and 40% of students had at least one learning disability.
  • A survivor requests digital copies of forms to be filled out and digital copies of the welcome materials in order to be able to look at them on her computer screen where she can modify the contrast and the font size. The provider hasn't been able to figure out how to do it and reacts with irritable embarrassment.

Solutions

  • MENCAP's Make It Clear This link will open a new browser window. guidelines show providers how to improve communications for everyone. These guidelines are naturally universal in scope – they benefit anyone having limited attention, distractibility, memory difficulty, low literacy, or that do not speak English as a first language. The guidelines were developed with people who have developmental disabilities (called "learning disabilities" in the UK).
  • Clarify the hierarchy of the information provided. Trying to give people as much information as one can, as if all of it is of equal importance, will defeat the purpose of transferring information. Information design attends to details that increase information absorbability.
  • Alternative formats like plain text, large fonts, digital copies, or audio CDs (or tapes) are necessary for some.  People with autism or Asperger’s syndrome may have a specific inability to write by hand, even if she seems fully functional. Others read digitally because they need to control the size of what they view. For those that learn through auditory methods, digital CDs or audiotapes may be necessary. Sometimes, a person cannot read text effectively when there are highlights, and they require plain text instead. Providers need to trust the communication preferences that survivors request.
  • Post instructions on or next to equipment like microwaves. Use corresponding machine symbols with the text. Picture-diagrams with arrows are useful if decisions affect which steps to take. Post instructions for clean-up in large fonts, with numbers, simple language, and graphics if possible.
  • Inquire about a woman’s scheduling memory, asking whether she needs a reminder call or whether an electronic calendar is available.  Expect and support the use of external memory aids – lists, visual cues, calendars, flow charts, electronic reminders and organizers.