Reducing the risk of being a victim of crime in South Africa : you can tell and be heard!

Abstract

People who use AAC know that silence is not always golden. Persons with disability, and in particular those with complex communication needs, have a heightened risk of becoming the victim of crime, abuse and neglect. In order to address one of the several problems associated with this, the present study looked at vocabulary needed to disclose or report crime or abuse in South Africa. Furthermore, it also focussed on the development of communication boards in four of the 11 official South African languages (Afrikaans, English, Sepedi and isiZulu). Thirty-six participants were involved in 4 language-based focus groups (English, Afrikaans, Sepedi and isiZulu). Participants were asked to generate a list of possible words they deemed important when wanting to disclose a crime, abuse or neglect. Participants then prioritized the top 55 words. When the lists from the four language groups were compared, a total of 56 words appeared on two or more of the lists. An electronic mail survey indicated that Picture Communication Symbols (PCS™) were the most frequently used symbol set in South Africa, and hence the board was developed using PCS™. A discrepancy analysis revealed that these 56 words could be represented by a staggering 219 symbols, of which 2 words (swear, threaten) did not have any existing PCS™ symbols. Consequently, they were developed. It is hoped that the process of developing the communication boards described in this paper might also be useful to the AAC community in other countries. Futhmore, the communicaton boards developed in this study can serve as a template for other languages.