Messenger visual: a pictogram-based IM service to improve communications among disabled people

This paper presents a pictogram-based instant messaging service that intends to bridge the social and digital gap of people with cognitive impairments. By means of using pictograms as the communication language and by tailoring down the interface to suit pictogram-based communication requirements, the service allows users to exchange real-time messages across the Internet to communicate with their relatives and acquaintances. Through our initial evaluation procedure with a group of eleven users with different types and degrees of cognitive impairments we show that a pictogram-based instant messaging service has a great potential to improve their communicative capabilities, as well as to enable their personal and social development.