I have a vision for a Inclusive Communication Public Action Plan and I need your help to implement it. Can you help me get the attention of Parliament by signing and sharing this petition? 

My motivation for creating this petition is a personal one. My beautiful funny, happy go lucky little girl Millie is a non verbal communicator. She uses picture’s as a tool help her communicate her choices. As a family we have worked hard to negate the restrictions this can mean when accessing the community around us. Millie has a communication book, uses a combination of sign, objects of reference, and the odd word to communicate with the world around her.

This campaign seeks to resolve communication barriers by raising awareness of simple things that could be implemented to ensure that non verbal communicators have choice and opportunity in the world around them. I would like the government to pass a policy that requires picture communication systems to be integrated in to the fabrication of society. By this I mean that all restaurants, places of transportation, sports and leisure facilities, museums, concert halls, education establishments, healthcare facilities, visitor attractions and commercial retail premises to have pictures systems to support communication. 

Who benefits?

The UK has a population of approximately 65 million people. 

Approx 11 million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing. There are 151000 BSL users in the UK

Approx 2.8 Million “Early Years”

Approx 850 000 people are living with dementia

Approx 40 Million tourists visit the UK each year

Approx 1.5 Million People have a Learning Disability. 

It is evident from these general statistics that there is a huge proportion of the population who could directly benefit from having communication systems embedded into society. If all these core groups were added together the approximate total is 56.3 million people! And the benefit actually reaches further than this when you consider that family, friends and practitioners also will directly benefit from this.

This is a simple adaption that will help peoples lived experiences. It will help promote choice and opportunity. It will help a someone with dementia who can’t find the words maintain their independence. It will help non verbal Autistic people communicate with their families a bit easier, by for example, helping ensuring families can dine together with menus that everyone can use! And these are just a few little examples!

If you own a printer you can implement this change straight away! It doesn’t need to be complex. It doesn’t need to be fancy. It just needs to be available! But if you are making up your own please consider the size of the images an ensure that the quality of the pictures are good with plain white back grounds. 

Thank You!