It
is with great delight I can announce the article I(Cathy Basterfield) co-write with Mark Starford
from BR Centre in the US, has been published in the latest Clarity Journal.
The Clarity Journal is published by Clarity, the
international association promoting plain legal language.
Below is the summary
Plain Language for Accessibility, Democracy, and
Citizenship
2014. Clarity Journal 72(2) pp 22-25.
By Cathy Basterfield and Mark
Starford
Summary
There
is a growing international commitment to deliver information in more accessible
ways for individuals with low literacy and comprehension. This article
highlights the rights and challenges and features two case stories of how
having access to Easy English (Read) increases community inclusion and
self-determination.
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) sets forth the economic, social
and cultural rights to which all human beings are entitled. These fundamental
rights of self-determination are essential to eliminating social and political
exclusion. Particularly, groups are disadvantaged and marginalized due to
ethnicity, caste, economic circumstance, sex, disability, or limited literacy.
Human rights principles have been reaffirmed and refined in other international
legislation over time. They all reiterate that the ideal of men and women
enjoying freedom from fear and what can be achieved if conditions are created
when everyone enjoys economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as civil
and political rights. The United Nations enacted the Convention on the Rights
of Persons with Disabilities (2006) with specific Articles that identify access
to understandable information as paramount to freedom, opportunity and full
participation. However, in practical terms, what does this mean?
For
many communities there have been few changes in how they access and use
information that is essential to decision making, health and wellbeing.
Governments, human services and social practices can and do marginalise. This
happens when governments, human services and social practices continue to
neglect the needs of a large but voiceless group that cannot access traditional
communication and information systems. Research shows there is a high
correlation between lower literacy skills, inferior health outcomes, and
reduced functional knowledge of financial obligations. In addition, lower
income levels, underemployment, involvement with the justice system and social
isolation are also highly correlated. For many, even in developed countries,
fluency with and access to communication technology is limited. The reasons are
twofold: both literacy and financial means are required to access this
technology.
