Access to Signage Information and Use of Transportation Systems by Mentally Disabled People

Travellers with mental disabilities are deterred from using public transportation due to difficulties in selecting and understanding provided information. This research is aimed at determining whether the generalization of pictogram use could make their travel easier and under which conditions. Signage understanding was individually assessed in 81 subjects who were selected in specialized centres and were showing different abilities to read, direct themselves or take initiatives, according to an increasing order of complexity of the message environment: 1) Understanding of signs with pictograms, text or mixed information, presented in isolation from their usual environment (47 commonly used signs); 2) interpretation of information data given on slides showing several transport environment conditions; and 3) signage interpretation during a real-world unfamiliar multimodal trip. Standardized tests and experiments, especially developed for this study, were used to identify the cognitive factors ruling this signage information understanding. More than half of the signs were identified, without any significant differences between signs with pictograms only and signs with written messages. The ability to read had a direct effect on the identification of written messages, but also of pictographic only messages. Subjects able to read fully interpreted over 80% of the information provided on slides, other subjects showed lower and rather contrasting performances. The real-world environment seemed to be helping as 83% of the travellers easily interpreted the major part of on-site signs.