Until now, there weren’t many emojis specific to the special needs community beyond your stereotypical wheelchair icon. With Emojability — as the new keyboard is called — kids, families and caregivers have a whole set of emojis and animated stickers at their disposal.
From adaptive equipment and therapy emojis to “You got this” and other encouraging phrases, the keyboard gives those in the special needs community a fun and relevant way to communicate about their day and their achievements.
Most importantly all emojis were designed through the lens of ability, a huge part of the culture at Gillette, the first hospital in the nation for kids with (dis)abilities.
Walkers and other equipment emojis were created with lines depicting movement. A “milestone” marker gives families a way to celebrate when a goal is achieved. And one of the keyboard’s animated phrases shows the “Dis” falling off the word “Disability,” leaving only “ability.”
Emojability became available for download to mobile devices on May 2nd. Gillette is now soliciting ideas on Facebook from the special needs community about what should be part of the next keyboard, which will also include reaction GIFs.
We are excited to see Emojability already making an impact. Media coverage by hundreds of TV stations, newspapers and online publications, including Minneapolis Egotist, TechTree, The Business Journals and Global Investor, are helping share the news worldwide!
Emojability is designed for both Android and iOS.
