Easy English with Women with Disabilities Victoria.

HI all,

Women with Disabilities Victoria have developed their Safeguards project. As part of the implementation they have included versions for different accessibly needs.

Access Easy English developed the Easy English version of the book.

This work was developed in response to their research Voices against Violence which is also available in Easy English 

This also ties in with the work we did with the South Eastern Integrated Family Violence Centre in providing information in Easy English
- for the many women who need it.  My Safety Plan - in a 'z 'card (the size of a credit card)
  and
- men who receive Intervention Orders. Men Think Safe Act Safe 

  
Talk to me about developing your project information so that more people can read, understand and know what to do.

Cathy

Cathy Basterfield
accesseasyenglish.com.au
 cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au
0466 579 855
@accesseasyengli
Facebook: Access Easy English
 

Access to Justice Report and Recommendations

HI all,

Late last year the Victorian Government Access to Justice Report and Recommendations were published. My submission is here

It was great to read so many organisations highlighted the needs of the many vulnerable people in the community who have lots of difficulty in accessing legal information, or even knowing what are their Rights. This was replicated in the report and recommendations.

There are 3 separate recommendations where Easy English was included:-

(1) Recommendation 2.1  (p.144)

Make Victoria Legal Aid the primary information entry point

In part recommends:

“....ensure that legal information materials meet best practice and accessibility standards,

including the provision of materials in plain-language, Easy English, and languages

other than English;...”

(2) Recommendation 2.4  (p.147)

“Making information about courts and tribunals more accessible

In part recommends:

“..Victorian courts and tribunals are encouraged to consider ways to make their websites and

legal information materials more accessible. .... include the provision of information in languages other than English, in plain-language, and in Easy English format.....”

and

(3) Recommendation 8.2 (p 4.99)

“ Improving access to interpreters

In part recommends:

“ ...Legal information should be published in plain-language, languages other than English and Easy English....”

  

It was also clear there were no submissions about interactive communication in the submissions to this review. It was not discussed in the body of the report. There were no specific recommendations about this important part of communication for people who have contact with the Justice Sector. Speech Pathologists and researchers are working in this space. A couple of areas of note are:

- Language and social communication skills of youths in the Justice Sector

- Undiagnosed language/literacy and other disabilities in the Youth Justice Sector;

- school adherence;

- knowledge of Rights, Responsibilities and the law;

- experiences of people with Complex Communication Needs when they have interaction with any aspect of the Justice Sector, from police to court staff, solicitors and judges.

I have since followed up with the Victorian Government, and hope to have some good news about next steps to get some of these Easy English recommendations further advanced. I also have raised the issue of the lack of information about the language and communication skills of people who have contact with the Justice Sector.

It was great to be able to further the conversation about Legal information at the Legal Literacy conference, Clarity in New Zealand last year. I presented a paper on Access to Written Information: A social equity, social justice issue. It generated lots of conversation about the various definitions of Legal Literacy, and what happens for the 44% of the adult population with non functional literacy.

I am here to help you develop those legalese documents, and make them accessible for people with non functional literacy.

Cathy Basterfield

Access Easy English

www.accesseasyenglish.com.au

cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au

0466 579 855 

Facebook:    /accesseasyenglish

Twitter: @accesseasyengl@accessseasyengli

Make a submission: A review of equality before the law

"n July 2013, The Australian Law Reform Commission announced an Inquiry into Commonwealth laws and legal frameworks that deny or diminish the equal recognition of people with disability before the law, and their ability to exercise legal capacity."  ALRC. 2013

 The Issues Paper has just been released "Equality, Capacity and Disability in Commonwealth Laws." Submissions are due by mid December, 2013.

There are Easy English version available of the submission process and the questions being asked in the Issues Paper.

Full version
http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/disability-IP44
Description of how to make a submission and the questions on the issues paper in Easy English.
http://www.alrc.gov.au/about/easy-english

Do you need help making your submission in Easy English?

Contact Cathy

0466 579 855

cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au