Supporting Communication for All during the Pandemic

Global Symbols supports open communication during the pandemic.

Global Symbols, a UK based community interest company, is committed to ensuring that no one is denied a voice regardless of their circumstances. During the pandemic families and carers told us how difficult communication can be when people struggle with breathing or are trying to understand those wearing personal protective equipment such as masks. We have responded by creating a series of freely available resources to help.

Talking about health

We have created various COVID-19 related communication boards and information sheets that you can download and print. These are to help with conversations you may have with patients, residents, care givers or family to explain treatment and to learn how they are currently feeling. The boards offer specific vocabulary which you can point to and say to communicate, or if speech is difficult can be pointed at with a finger or even just eyes.

Featured boards are available online at https://globalsymbols.com/about/featured-board-sets

Talking about life

Staying connected and communicating is vital to recovery and well-being. So we have created Board Builder, a free online tool to design and print communication boards that can be personalised to suit an individual in whatever setting. You can use any of the free symbols or upload photos to add to a board. Its simple to do and makes a significant difference to quality of care.

Board Builder is available for use at https://app.globalsymbols.com/

Never be lost for words

Sometimes, people have things they want to say that are special to them. That is why we allow you to upload your own photos and why we created Symbol Creator, an easy to use image editor so that you can create symbols of your own. Choose symbols from the collections to reflect different cultural and social settings, combine symbols and shapes to create a unique image to suit your needs. We make it easy for you.    

Symbol Creator is fully integrated into Board Builder at https://app.globalsymbols.com/

Communicate with confidence.

No-one should be nervous when supporting conversations in difficult situations.  So, with UNICEF, we have built a free training package to share knowledge about different ways of communicating with the support of picture symbols. Initially focussed on work with children the resources teach the basics of communication for all.

The open training resources can be found at https://training.globalsymbols.com/

Building Communication for all is Global

Keeping up to date with the developments across the world is challenging. To help we created a free newsletter that curates all of the latest news on the field to help manage the flow of information.

You can view or subscribe to the newsletter at https://www.aac.news/#/

Global Symbols – Because Communications Matters - Everywhere

Who are Global Symbols

Global Symbols seeks to aid communities to create the communication resources they need to support those with communication needs. We strive to ensure that resources are relavent to local language and culture.

We are founded upon principles of open access supporting materials and solutions developed under open source, creative commons, and Open Educational Resources

Each community served is the subject of a separate project, blending the expertise of our team with local knowledge and experience from within the community.

Our goals include:

Developing communication symbols to support Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) and literacy needs that can be used by AAC users, their families, carers and professionals as well as software developers.

Providing training and support to communities seeking to establish communication solutions for those with speech, language and literacy difficulties.

Supporting the development of other resources that facilitate access to information and communication for people with a disability or special needs

Promoting and encouraging an understanding of the central place of language and culture in meeting the needs of those with communication needs.

 How to contact us

You will find Global Symbols at www.globalsymbols.com

We are on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/globalsymbols/

and Twitter at @globalsymbols

Our email address is [email protected]