A workshop took place in February to consider a new topic for international standardization.
Members of the mirror committees of ISO/TC 314 gathered together to discover how we could support individuals with disabilities in their environment. A great deal of information is communicated through symbols, for example on food labels, road signs, public signage, toilet doors, etc. An individual living with for example dementia may have difficulty understanding some of these symbols and this is not always obvious to outsiders who may take it for granted that they have understood the message simply because they appear to have seen it.
Therefore, we hope to find a way to address this problem by considering adaptions to existing symbols or introducing new symbols for use. There is already research in this area which the committee can build upon, for example the Life Changes Trust in the UK has developed a report in 2016 on the use of symbols for people with dementia and a list of symbols in freely available on this website.
At present ISO/TC 314 is looking for volunteers to take part in this project. Please contact me: [email protected].