Yongin City Launches "Difference, Not Discrimination" Campaign to Promote AAC Awareness

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Yongin City has launched the "Difference, Not Discrimination" campaign to promote awareness of AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication), a next-generation communication culture.

According to Yongin City on the 11th, AAC stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, which refers to a next-generation communication method that uses pictograms, photographs, facial expressions, and gestures to enable communication for people with disabilities, foreigners, and elderly individuals who face difficulties using speech or writing.

The city has organized this campaign to inform citizens who feel hesitant about communicating with people with disabilities, foreigners, and the elderly that they can communicate in various ways through pictures, photographs, and gestures, rather than relying solely on Braille, sign language, or foreign languages.

The campaign will run until December, with Yongin Songdam University, seven Emart locations in the city, companies, and disability welfare facilities participating together to enhance its significance.

During the campaign, the city plans to place informational materials about AAC at seven Emart locations and produce and distribute shopping baskets decorated with pictograms, the representative method of AAC.

The informational materials and shopping baskets were produced by the Raon Disability Daytime Care Center and the Giheung Vocational Support Center in Yongin City, and were sponsored by Zisan Co., Ltd., Daemin Environment, Lucky Technology Co., Ltd., and Seok Young Development.

Additionally, students from the Visual Design Department at Yongin Songdam University participated in pictogram design through volunteer work, and students from the Social Welfare Department plan to distribute AAC informational materials at Emart to guide citizens.

Mayor Baek Gun-gi said at the launch event, "I am very pleased that the university, companies, and disability welfare facilities have come together to advance this campaign for people who face communication difficulties for various reasons," and added, "I will continue to pay careful attention so that all citizens of Yongin can enjoy a comfortable daily life."

Meanwhile, the launch event was attended by Mayor Baek, Choi Sung-sik, president of Yongin Songdam University, and Park Jong-uk, manager of Emart Dongbaek Branch, among others.