The City of Cockburn has used a International Day of Disability grant to trial communications boards for people with a disability, or hearing and speech difficulties.
The visual information boards are currently being trialled at Cockburn aquatic and recreation centre.
The City received a $1,000 International Day of Disability grant to create communications boards for the City’s inaugural Disability Sporting Day at the ARC in December 2021.
The boards contain a range of universal diagrams and symbols that allow people to indicate their needs or desires, from whether they feel cold or unwell, to where they would like to go, what emotion they are feeling, if they are hungry, or need to go to the toilet.
Six boards have been installed at the centre to date, with feedback on design and positioning welcome to help the City to continuously improve the signage.
City of Cockburn Disability Access and Inclusion Officer, Ben Rowe, said “The boards are a handy tool for quick communication, especially in the wet areas where using a tablet or smart device can be more difficult, especially if batteries run out.”
This idea was developed further to create more permanent boards for the aquatic and recreation centre, with four erected in the sports stadium and two more near the seating area between the Water Play area and Learn to Swim Pool, and another on the wall between the 25m indoor pool and Warm Water Pool.
The A3 signs are located at child height to make them easy to read, access and point to.
The City is also working with Success Primary School and the City of Cockburn Disability Reference Group to design a large communication board for future installation at the Bibra Lake Regional Playground.
Image courtesy of the Cityof Cockburn.
Caption: L-R City of Cockburn Disability Access and Inclusion Officer, Ben Rowe, and Cockburn ARC Manager, Toby McCready, with one of the communication boards.
