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
Showing posts with label victoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label victoria. Show all posts
Monday, 27 August 2018
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.
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
Twitter: @accesseasyengl@accessseasyengli
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
Twitter:
@accesseasyengl@accessseasyengli
Monday, 28 November 2016
The Snow report
Dr Pamela Snow, La Trobe University
Professor and researcher has a fantastic blog on all things reading, early
literacy, understanding phonics and great links to current research and issues.
Pam has also been involved in research and implementing change with the language and literacy needs and issues for
Juvenile and Youth offenders, a critical group of vulnerable people.
From Pam's Blog
"I'm a Professor and Head of the
La Trobe Rural Health School......Central Victoria. My research passion
is language and literacy competence - primarily as this pertains to
vulnerability in early life. "
Stay up to date and check it out now.
Cathy Basterfield
Access Easy English
cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au
0466 579 855
Twitter: @accesseasyengli
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