version of this page with images.
For people who use symbol-based AAC, the symbols or images️ they have access to dictate what they can say and how they can say it.
Most symbol libraries leave out symbols about things that are very important to be able to talk about, like:
We've had enough of nonDisabled people deciding what we get to talk about and how we get to talk! At AACIL, every single image is coded into the website by a symbol AAC user. Every single image is drawn by a Disabled person. Most images are drawn by AAC users.
The AAC Image Library was founded in January 2024 by M. Scharnke (a Meanjin-based disability pensioner) and a small initial cohort group of other Disabled, AAC user symbol artists. Later that year, we achieved integration with the Global Symbols database (which means our symbols can be accessed directly through some AAC apps, such as CBoard and FlexSpeak). AACIL is determined to always be led, run, and primarily contributed to by AAC users. AACIL has over 55 incredible Disabled artists, 3 symbol-AAC using website coders, a vibrant community of feedback from more than 75 AAC users, several wonderful Disabled documentation assistants, and many wonderful allies. Everybody involved in AACIL is a volunteer.
The images are stored in categories.
Sometimes, it might be hard to know where to find an image, or know what images are on the website. We know this can and should be better, and are working every day to make AACIL better. Every day, we also add new images.
Some of our symbols can be found here at GlobalSymbols, with a search bar that means you can seearch for specific symbols.