international symbol (pictograph) for “inclusive society”- your ideas please!

[Holger]

Hello,
I just want to ask you, if you would take part in a little kind of contest. or better in a graphical-brainstorming.
I am looking for a completely new symbol (pictograph) for “inclusive society”.
Please let me explain. I live in Germany, where special people (disabled or handicapped people, people with mental retardation, special educational needs and so on) are not really included in the society. but people like me fight for them or with them for a society, in which we all are special and no one must be categorized. this is maybe an Utopian dream, but every second worth to fight for.
I always see how hard it is to find the right word or term for special people, but a picture is worth a thousand words. and now I think about such picture. a picture, that stands for "inclusive society" or "you are now entering a part/institution of the inclusive society”.
I try to explain better what I have in mind. you all know that pictographs at toilets for man or woman. one sign, international use, everybody knows. reduced to the maximum. and everybody knows that international symbol of access, showing a man/woman in a wheelchair. such symbol is it what I mean. but for all special people, and expressing: come in, please - here we all are special. we do not exclude anybody.
I am only a teacher for people with special educational needs. I cannot award any prize or give any winner money. everybody that takes part in this contest is a winner. the only thing I can do is to show your suggestions on a conference with nearly 400 participants, where we discuss about inclusion and how to reach this aim. Show it if you allow it to me and say, who did it and that is was created by the amazing members of talkgraphics.
okay, I am really looking forward to your creations of a "here we to live and breathe inclusion"-symbol.

best regards

Holger

PS: please ask me if I was not able to explain my thoughts in order to prevent any misunderstandings.

[gwpriester]

That's a very big assignment. We will have to see what people can design. Good idea Holger.

Here's an idea. Give this assignment to your students too. Nobody knows how it feels to be excluded better than someone who feels excluded.

[Holger]

Gary, to let my students work to this topic is an really good idea. I will do that.
And I'm dying to know what the people here will create. Funny, serious, crazy or whatever - just like we all are.
There must be more than that wheelchair-symbol.

[Nostaw]

What I'm a bit confused about, usually every sign's purpose is to warn, need to be followed, command attention, etc. to address an audience. A female toilet sign for females, Traffic signs for everyone on the road, etc. They all are addressing an audience.

The only sign I can think of for "including everyone", is NOT to use a sign at all. It kida defeats the a purpose of a sign if everyone is included.

Unless you want to specify: "People with disabilities and non-disabilities are welcome to this venue", that gives me a better idea of what you are after.

[gwpriester]

My wife suggested a symbol of one person hugging another person.

[Su Lawrence]

Nostaw:
Well the way I understand it is ... that it is addressing an audience, the disabled are an audience and it would be saying that we will include you along with non-disabled people. Because if you are not disabled then you don't have an issue with seeing, hearing or mobility access etc.

For example I am deaf, so when I see the 'ear' sign I figure that the person I am dealing with has had some sort of training. For example they know to face you (lip reading) and to speak clearly and not too fast etc ... or maybe they know sign language; or perhaps there will be subtitles - such as with audio-visual displays and so on.

What the op is looking for is such a sign which states no matter what your disability we will not exclude you from joining in with everyone else. So I presume there would be wheel chair access, disabled toilet facilities, audio options for blind people etc ... that sort of thing.

Although I don't have an idea for such a sign myself.

Being deaf is hard, and what makes it harder is when you can't join in, especially when the technology exists to help. For example I love watching movies but if there are no sub-titles then you can't follow it really ... if there is news on the TV then you can't follow that without sub-titles. Quite often you can miss important information, think about fire alarms for one example. I'm on holiday in NZ at present and was in a bar in Hawkes Bay, when they had a fire alarm. If I had been alone such as in the loo, I might not have known about it in a timely manner ... luckily it was a false alarm anyway.

Regards

Su

[Nostaw]

Su what you describe makes sense. It is hard to put it into a symbol though since its too broad.

Garry, I like the idea (alot!) -but- two people hugging is too broad and could mean anything really.

[Holger]

Thank you all for joining this thread with your ideas!
And after reading your comments, I now know how sensible and exact one has to describe its ideas - and translate it the same sensible way to another language. I have to excuse myself for finding not always the right words, so please let me explain again.

if you see such international sign or symbol, you know: this is a room or anything else made for a special kind of people. it is not any forbidden-sign or warning, but shall be a symbol, that helps special people to find places that reflect their special needs. my idea was a sign that goes beyond the scope of this kind of symbols. but not in a special "technical way", meaning: "come in, we have all kinds of aids for everyone"
what I have in mind a a sign, that reflects a general kind of thinking of inclusion. inclusion means, that we are all special, everyone needs its own aids, everybody has another way to learn something, everybody has special needs and needs special help in any relation. one can perfect cut down trees, but has problems to expalin, waht "inflation" means, anothe rone can perfectly explain inflation, but is not able to write it down without some errors and so on. so no one is handicapped or better: everyone. but it does not matter, because in a inclusive society we all are acceptets a s special and we all reflect this and do not exclude someone.
jus tfor example, if a kindergarten is using such sing, you can be sure, that every child is very welcome there. maybe is one is deaf, they have not the special learning materials the child needs, but they know about and to arrange it so that child will be supported the next day. or a pub with that sing - if you see it, you can be sure, there are people inside, that do not always look at your children with Tourette's syndrome and make the parents and the child feel, that they are not welcome and do disturb the other guests. no, they are accepted and treated like any other guest. so the sign I have in mind tells more about a fundamental mental attitude, but does not promise that there is already the perfect equipment for every need. but the readiness to be very sensible for that too.

(maybe my idea is a little bit comparable to the peace-sign. it stands for a fundamental kind of thinking like make love not war. and if you see it, you can be sure the "user" is not any mass murderer and will always prefer a peaceful solution for any problem instead sending the troops in.) I am really not sure if I was able to explain it a bit more better...

[Holger]

My wife suggested a symbol of one person hugging another person.

a great idea, because it transports helping and care for each other very clearly.
but in my humble opinion it has too many different connotations for the beholder. but it is the first relly helpful suggestion for such sign.

[David O'Neil]

A face that has a linear transparency from black to white, with red and other race colors in it, half female features, half masculine features, with a pair of glasses that go from being black like the blind use to regular glasses, to disappearing. Underneath a rainbow. Surrounded by hands.

My $.02