SPECIAL IDENTITY

the story of creating an identity for a special needs school in Abu Dhabi, UAE

[special-identity]

Some thoughts on marketing a school for kids with special needs: audiences, channels of communication, and facilitating materials that can be branded. Yellow lines are the channels that connect to each of the five audiences, green audiences are inside the school, blue are outside the school. It's much more complicated than a business, nonprofit, or general school, and has a lot more room for new kinds of marketing - for example, getting fliers to specialists in the area to make recommendations easier, or using social media to achieve goals of raising community awareness.

[special-identity]

So just to understand the general context that my project is operating in, I conducted a web-based, observational survey of about forty special needs schools running programs similar to the Abu Dhabi Ability Center for Special Needs (in the US, UK, and UAE), including analyses of eight schools’ brand as presented by their web pages. Since I haven't really found anything about the conventions of or issues surrounding visual identities for organizations like this. Some practical info: The most common colors used in these websites were shades of blue with bright orange or yellow accents. Most imagery involved photos of students doing various activities at each school. Logos tended to be simple wordmarks or else incorporate some kind of animal or handprint image. In general, the web layouts had a large banner photo at the top and a horizontal menu bar underneath, sometimes with a sub-menu bar on the left side. The introduction page was either a general about section or a welcome letter from the president of the school. Most of the web pages were very text heavy and text focused, with a fairly simple/default layout. Information that most of the websites contained and I would suggest to be on the website: about page, photo gallery, useful links and resources, alumni stories, services list, social media links, map, letter from president, admissions information, donation information, curriculum information, accreditation information, staff bios, institution history, volunteer information, article/news, career information Buzzwords (gleaned from “about us” and mission statements): full potential, caring, safe, happy, enrich, unique, skills, environment, encouraged, fulfill, individual, partner, wholeness, equip, development, holistic, participate, prepare, inspire, knowledge, maximize, quality, awareness, empower, capabilities/abilities. Could avoid these purposefully or include some of them to ground the Ability Center with its peers.

[onetrueharem]

I’ll put my money where my mouth is and talk about some basic theory underlying disability rights. Really duh disclaimer: I do not speak for all disabled people or the disability rights community. But I have been involved in disability rights for a few years now so I promise...

[special-identity]

"If no other impairments are included in the [disability] sign then there's a subliminal message that if it's all right for wheelchair users then everyone else can just struggle along - and that's massively unhelpful.

"We recently introduced a symbol which indicates that assistance is available, to be used at a reception desk or similar. It's meant for people who need guidance, so perhaps people with sight or cognitive difficulties. It's a picture of one person holding the hand of another."

Caroline Cardus for BBC

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Photos from my first visit to the Ability Center for Special Needs

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Original Ability Center for Special Needs signage with logo

[special-identity]

“Dubai has a long, long road ahead before it is a truly inclusive society. There is a stigma attached to disability caused by a lack of education. It’s about breaking that ground." Sheikh Maktoum Bin Butti Al Maktoum

Article summary: In the Gulf area, there is a lack of education about disability, a lack of vocational and training centers for people with disabilities, and a lack of incentive for companies to hire disabled people and possibly rearrange their own structures to do so. Overall this makes for a bad situation when it comes to the potential for people with disabilities to enter the (Dubai-specific) workforce. Probably the most poignant part are the comments below the article:

"I am a human being just like everyone else; besides, a physically challenged person can be an asset to your firm. By taking the time to read ,me, I want you to tell about the benefits of hiring physically challenged person like me. we probably have a strong work ethic. Because we are at a disadvantage and have more of a need to prove ourselves in the workplace than others, we will probably work with a great attitude and put all of effort into the job. You can count on us to go the extra mile and give you a one hundred and ten percent effort."

"I am a disabled person, living in Abudhabi (Mussafah).I am jobless.Can you help me ingetting any clerical job in any organisation."

[spooniestrong]

[special-identity]

reblog

[disabilityhistory-blog]

Kenguru: The first ever electrically powered vehicle designed especially for wheelchair users will become available in the UK soon.

Image description: A man using a manual chair wheels into the back of a small yellow car built for wheelchair users.

[imglulz]

[goldenheartedrose]

Idk. I have difficulty with full gallons of milk and orange juice. This could be really great for people with dyspraxia or other disabilities that cause weak motor skills.

[hogna-lenta-deactivated20160930]

Don’t you love it when people see assistive technology like this and then assume it’s just for super lazy people instead of maybe, you know, folks who find everyday tasks difficult or impossible otherwise? There are SO many people for whom this could be really helpful: people with motor issues, vision issues - I mean, fuck, this would be really helpful for children and the elderly, too, because a whole gallon of milk or juice is heavy as fuck for a little kid or for someone with poor muscle tone. But nooooope, let’s just make it into a joke about stereotypes of Americans! hurr hurr!

[goldenheartedrose]

Right? I am thinking that the person’s hand in that picture could belong to an older person (because of the way the wedding ring looks on the finger, which I assumed to mean they’ve been married a long time). So yeah, I love the way the disabled, elderly and kids get shit on when we talk about how “lazy” Americans are because of assistive technology.

[special-identity]

About the Project

The Abu Dhabi Ability Center for Special Needs gives the chance to learn and a sense of community to about thirty children with special needs and their families - an important and pioneering initiative in a nation that passed its first law protecting the rights of people with special needs less than a decade ago. A fundamental problem for schools like this in the region involves awareness. Without a website or a cohesive brand presence, the Ability Center is close to impossible to find for both supporters and potential clients. This is where I will step in to help. As a visual arts student learning and practicing graphic design, visual identity development is theoretically and practically something I love to do. A brand adds value, cohesiveness, and a sense of purpose to any institution, but especially to one like this: having a thoughtful, clear identity will reflect the professionalism and vision of the Center in a way that makes it accessible and appealing. By working directly with the staff, students, and other involved parties, I will help the people of the Center itself have a clearer vision of their school, be able to articulate it in a visual identity, and take pride in being a part of it. These collateral will assist the Ability Center in its advertising and outreach to potential students and their families, as well as making fundraising efforts more visible and directed. A brand already exists in the sum of experiences that people have with the Center; my job as designer will be to define the best aspects of that, understand its context in the United Arab Emirates and the global community, and visually communicate the it to a wider audience in a way that helps the Center define and market itself.

This blog acts as an archive for links, inspiration, thoughts, and stories as I go though this project.

Erin Meekhof, [email protected], other work at be.net/meekhof

[special-identity]

Choosable/changeable background color to make the website accessible to people with different visual impairments from dyslexie.com

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[special-identity]

"The Accessible Icon Project provides supplies and services to transform the old International Symbol of Access into an active, engaged image. We think visual representation matters. People with disabilities have a long history of being spoken for, of being rendered passive in decisions about their lives. The old icon, while a milestone in ADA history, displays that passivity: its arms and legs are drawn like mechanical parts, its posture is unnaturally erect, and its entire look is one that make the chair, not the person, important and visible. As people with disabilities of all kinds—not just chair users—create greater rights and opportunities for social, political, and cultural participation, we think cities should evolve their images of accessibility too."

http://www.accessibleicon.org/

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672754/how-a-guerrilla-art-project-gave-birth-to-nycs-new-wheelchair-symbol

[dandyfied-blog-blog]

Another myth that is firmly upheld is that disabled people are dependent and non-disabled people are independent. No one is actually independent. This is a myth perpetuated by disablism and driven by capitalism - we are all actually interdependent. Chances are, disabled or not, you don’t grow all of your food. Chances are, you didn’t build the car, bike, wheelchair, subway, shoes, or bus that transports you. Chances are you didn’t construct your home. Chances are you didn’t sew your clothing (or make the fabric and thread used to sew it). The difference between the needs that many disabled people have and the needs of people who are not labelled as disabled is that non-disabled people have had their dependencies normalized. The world has been built to accommodate certain needs and call the people who need those things independent, while other needs are considered exceptional. Each of us relies on others every day. We all rely on one another for support, resources, and to meet our needs. We are all interdependent. This interdependence is not weakness; rather, it is a part of our humanity.

AJ Withers, “Disability Politics and Theory” (via lavenderlabia)