A picture for a thousand words
Type of project: Exploratory research
Disability concerned: Mental disability, Multiple disabilities, Polydisability
Topics: Services and communication, Intellectual and information accessibility
Status: Completed
The project aims to develop an application that not only translates texts into easy-to-read and easy-to-understand French (FALC) but also illustrates them. In addition, the translated content is oralised. The level of comprehension of people with intellectual disabilities is thus significantly increased. Our aim is to increase their social participation and intellectual autonomy.
One of the most common situations of disability for people with intellectual disabilities is access to information. It stems from the communication disabilities experienced by this population.
As a result, a large number of existing resources attempt to compensate for communication disabilities – communication software with pictograms, controlled by various interfaces, or devices involving communication “binders”. One of the existing methods is easy-to-read and easy-to-understand French (FALC). This is a regulated method that encourages the adaptation of written and spoken messages.
However, only 10-20% of people with mental disabilities read. For all the others, audio and images may be the only means of accessing information that is important to their social, cultural or political lives.
The originality of the project lies in the creation of a multiplatform application that works as follows: a sentence is written or dictated orally in standard French, before being analysed by a “FALC AI” and leading to proposals (explanations, formulations). Once the proposal has been validated, the application generates illustrations in the form of small cartoons to help understand the messages, while an audio reading of the translation can be produced if required.
All the elements can be exported (text, visuals, audio) for a wide range of uses (physical and digital media). The range of users of such an application is vast: specialised teachers, educators, but also public administrations, cultural circles, health circles, legal circles or any other player who has decided to promote accessibility to information. People with intellectual disabilities are not the only ones who could benefit, as could allophones or students with learning difficulties.
This exploratory research enabled scientists and researchers to confront the notion of user expertise. As a result, the inclusive team had to pay close attention to communication with the intellectually disabled members of the team. Jargon had to be deconstructed, translated into FALC and communicated in such a way as to encourage participation. The meetings (videoconferences and face-to-face) generated a new dynamic in which the target audience for the research no longer corresponded to a theoretical vision but to real people with whom interaction became necessary. The usage expertise of people with intellectual disabilities was engaged in their analysis of illustrations and in their understanding of translated texts. In this way, the concept of measuring the quality of FALC texts was nurtured. To sum up, some of the participants encountered the world of science, while others became aware of an epistemological process that needed to be rethought.
