Pathways II Project Easy to Read and Easy to Understand Information

1. Pathways II ProjectEasy to Read and Easy to Understand Information Andrew Doyle and Jack Collett ENABLEScotland

2. About Me • I am Andrew Doyle. • I come from Scotland. • I am a member of ENABLE Scotland. • I was the chairperson of Inclusion Europe’s European Platform of Self-Advocates for several years. • I took part in Pathways 1 Project.

3. About me • My name is Jack Collett. • I live in Scotland. • I am a member of ENABLE Scotland. • I support people in several self-advocate groups. • I took part in the Pathways 1 Project.

4. Original Pathways 1 Project How did it happen • Lots of information is not accessible. • This stops people with intellectual disability taking a full part in their communities. • Inclusion Europe wanted to change this. • They got funding from the European Commission for Pathways 1.

5. Original Pathways 1 Project 8Countries were involved • Austria • Germany • Finland • Portugal • Scotland • Lithuania • Ireland • France

6. Original Pathways 1 Project Produced 4 brochures • Standards for making information easy to read and easy to understand. • Training people to write documents that are easy to read and easy to understand. • Recommendations for lifelong learning staff to make their courses accessible. • How to involve people with intellectual disabilities in writing accessible documents.

7. Original Pathways 1 Project Produced a website www.life-long-learning.eu • All 4 brochures are available on the website • Also on the website there is a checklist that helps you assess how easy to read and how easy to understand a document is. • This checklist is a valuable tool.

8. Original Pathways 1 Project How did we decide on the Standards? • The standards were based on the team’s experience of working with people with intellectual disability. • The team members had been writing easy to read information for many years.

9. How we rolled out Pathways in Scotland • We worked with colleges and organisations that we already had contact with. • We persuaded them their results would improve by writing in easy to read • We persuaded them it would help them comply with anti-discrimination laws. • We took advantage of a project to make elections more accessible.

10. How we rolled out Pathways in Scotland • Worked with other self-advocacy groups. • Worked with other disability organisations. • Took advantage of the government telling health services to improve the way they treat people with intellectual disability.

11. How we continue to promote Pathways • We talk about easy to read and understand information and give out leaflets at meetings. • We had a postcard campaign about the need for Easy to read and Understand information. • We encourage people to send back letters they get that are difficult to understand and say we can help you make your information accessible.

12. What success have we had in Scotland • A lot of health information is now available in easy-to-read and easy-to-understand format. • Government agencies are writing more in easy-to-read and easy-to-understand format. • The main political parties wrote manifestos in easy to read for the last elections. • More information is now available on CDs, DVDs, videos and websites.

13. Some Easy to Read and Understand Websites • www.betterinfo.org.uk Good examples of easy-to-read information can be seen on the parts of the site called : [A guide to the human rights act] [A guide to your rights at work] [A life like any other] • www.nhsinform.com/Easy-Info

14. Some Easy-to-Understand Information has been around for many years. • Road signs. • Major road direction signs. • Airport and Rail Station Information signs. • Restaurants like McDonalds.