Cost: -10 points
Non-Iconographic is a mundane mental Disadvantage that prevents you from processing abstract images and symbols. Unlike Dyslexia this does not effect text based languages.
Comment[]
It is somewhat unclear how this would work as presented. As sfdebris points out in The Language of Darmok the very letters themselves are abstract images. Extra Credit went further in William Gibson: The Gernsback Continuum pointing out there is nothing intrinsic about "tree" to connect it to what it describes. In fact, other languages use a totally different spelling for what is "tree" in English, such as árbol in Spanish.
ideogram: a picture or symbol used in a system of writing to represent a thing or an idea but not a particular word or phrase for it. (Webster online)
ideogram: A character symbolizing the idea of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it. Examples include numerals and Chinese characters. (Oxford)
Never mind that most GUIs have a text based menu bar which means someone with this disadvantage could still use a GUI.
More over the identification of an Iconographic is a cultural rather then mental thing. For example a person of 1880 would have no idea what looks like three megaphones centered around a circle means but many modern people would identify it as meaning "radiation". How many people today would know what a blue circle with a triangle of white with the letters 'CD' in it means; especially since that US symbol has been replaced with an orange circle surrounding a blue triangle?
For these reason it is recommended that GMs not allow this disadvantage.
References[]
- B146