What font(s) do people with Intellectual Disabilities prefer?

The ability to make a choice is a right of all persons. It has been highlighted that persons with intellectual disabilities may not always have that right extended to them. A means to bridge this gap is to actively involve... [ view full abstract ]

The ability to make a choice is a right of all persons. It has been highlighted that persons with intellectual disabilities may not always have that right extended to them. A means to bridge this gap is to actively involve persons with intellectual disabilities in research and explore their preferences, one area being the presentation of printed information. Current guidelines recommend that Arial be used when preparing printed materials for this population. However, people with intellectual disabilities were not consulted. To date, research exploring font preference(s) has not been conducted with this population. Involvement of people with intellectual disabilities is promoted and guided by the principle of “nothing about us, without us”. Walmsley and Johnson (2003) note that the involvement of people with intellectual disabilities in research studies enriches the research, as they bring their expert knowledge and experience.
This study aimed to investigate the font preference of adults with intellectual disabilities.

Thirty adults with intellectual disabilities were recruited, with five participating in a pilot of the data collection tools. Participants were shown twenty sets of basic sentences in three different styles of font (Arial, Comic Sans and Century Gothic).Participant were asked to read each set of sentences, asked if they had a favourite font and to indicate their favourite based on aesthetic appeal.

Responses of 21 participants were included in the analysis. Preferences were separately analysed for each individual participant, across participants and sentences. When individual preferences was analysed, eight participants indicated a statistically significant preference for one style; one for Century Gothic and seven for Comic Sans. Overall, as a group, 76.2% (n=16) of participants displayed a preference for B, 19% (n=4) for C and 4.8% preferred A (n=1). Across sentences, participants displayed a statistically significant preference for eight out of the twenty sets of sentences.

This study adds to the body of evidence promoting the importance of offering choice and involving people with intellectual disabilities. No participant favoured Arial, despite being widely used with this population. In light of these findings, current recommendations regarding the presentation of printed materials may need to be revised.