Access Easy English

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"Thank you for making this information harder to read" From PLAIN International 2017

PLAIN International 2017.

Held in Graz, Austria at the largest university in their city.

Lots of people from many different countries attended. There a few more papers and discussion about meeting the needs of people who do have more limited literacy, which was great to see. PPT's from the conference will be available soon. I will put the link here when they are available.

Highlights - there were many.

In the Opening Address Neil James, the outgoing President welcomed everyone with the 4 'S' of Plain Language.

- Service

- Satisfaction

- Safety

- Savings.

Service

covered things such as

- information from a company is easier to understand;

- it takes less time to write and act on the information;

- saves money;

- better relationships with customers.

Satisfaction

- A great slide with comments about "when was the last time a customer said......."

'thank you for making this information more complicated than it needed to be';

'but this was too easy to understand';

'I feel smarter when you make it harder to read';

I would like to spend more time doing this (read document)!'

Safety

Complex information is not clear. It is more open to misinterpretation. Think about an insurance statement....

Savings

More recent data has shown when using Plain Language:-

25%-40% reduction in a documents length;

50% reduction in writing time

40%-60% reduction in reviewing time;

50% reduction in number of drafts;

50% increase in reader satisfaction.

Now put these in the context of Easy English.....

Cathy Basterfield

Access Easy English

0466 579 855

Facebook: /accesseasyenglish

Monday, 22 May 2017

RoboDebt; Not My debt; CentreLink Enquiry

HI all,

Earlier this year the Federal Government commissioned the Senate to complete an enquiry into the Design, scope, cost-benefit analysis, contracts awarded and implementation associated with the Better Management of the Social Welfare System initiative . The less confusing version is: "CentreLink and the experiences of people during the so-called 'robo-debt' collection.”

My submission is at http://www.aph.gov.au/…/Com…/SocialWelfareSystem/Submissions No. 116.

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 numerical and financial information, or even knowing what are their Rights.

I was invited to present to the Senate enquiry in person (teleconference). On Thursday 27 April, 2017, I presented to the Australian Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs regarding my submission, access and information at CentreLink, both low adult literacy and also low computer literacy in our community.

The Hansard recording of my hearing presentation is here. Look under Launceston 27 April, 2017.

The Advocate" http://www.theadvocate.com.au/…/…/centrelink-english-learnt/ and "The Examiner" http://www.examiner.com.au/…/462…/centrelink-english-learnt/ also reported on my presentation, as well as other presentations from the Launceston hearing, including mentioning my evidence.

I included some information on numerical literacy in my submission. In my presentation I focused more specifically on the breadth and extent of low literacy skills in our community, and also the lack of computer literacy (and access to the hardware/internet) in the community, required to access CentreLink.

I could have also discussed the huge percent of adults with low Numerical Literacy in our community, but there is only so much you can emphasize in a 35 minute conversation. The import of my message was heard.

Another submission used the term "CentreLink English" to describe how difficult it is to read and understand information from CentreLink. I was asked about whether I had heard this term before! No, but just imagine you walk into a new job. Everyone uses acronyms, phrases and words that are familiar to them, but completely unfamiliar to you, the outsider. Yes, that is what CentreLink English is like.

The report from this enquiry is due out in early June 2017.
Next: is to hear what will happen for change.
What will the recommendations be? I will keep you posted.

I am here to help you develop and build awareness of the need for government documents to be accessible for people with non functional literacy. I am advertising a 2 day training “Learn to write Easy English” for June 19 & 20 in Melbourne. Flyer and booking links or contact me using any of the methods below.

Cathy Basterfield

Access Easy English

0466 579 855

Facebook: /accesseasyenglish

Friday, 7 April 2017

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

0466 579 855

Facebook: /accesseasyenglish