Easy read

Also called Easy Read, Easy-read, Easy read format, Accessible information

Documents written to a standard that people with a learning disability can use, what the standard demands, and why a summary with clip art is not it.

What it is

Easy read is a way of writing and laying out a document so that a person with a learning disability can read and use it. Short sentences, one idea each. Everyday words, with any hard word explained. A picture beside each idea, on the left, that shows what the sentence is about. Large type, lots of white space, and nothing decorative.

It is a standard with an audience, not a style. Easy read is for people with a learning disability, and the test of an easy read document is whether people with a learning disability can use it, which is why the serious producers, CHANGE among them, have people with a learning disability check every document before it goes out.

Public bodies have a legal reason to produce it. The Accessible Information Standard requires NHS and adult social care services in England to give information in a format the person can use, and easy read is the named format for many people with a learning disability. The Equality Act's duty to make reasonable adjustments covers the rest of the public sector.

Who it can help

People with a learning disability, first. Also many autistic people, people with dementia, people recovering from a stroke or brain injury, people whose English is new, and a large number of adults with low literacy who would never ask for it. A good easy read version is also the quickest way for anyone to find out what a long document actually says.

It is not the right format for everyone with a communication need. A Deaf BSL user needs BSL, not easy read English; a blind person needs an accessible electronic document or audio; a person who reads well but processes slowly may need time, not pictures. The Standard's point is to ask the person what they need and record it.

How it works

The rules are concrete. Sentences of around ten to fifteen words, one point each, in the active voice. No jargon, and if a technical word cannot be avoided it is explained the first time. Numbers as digits. No abbreviations. A picture for each idea, placed to the left of the text it supports, chosen or drawn to show that idea rather than to look nice; photographs of real people and situations often work better than symbols for adults. Type of 14 point or larger, a plain typeface, left-aligned, plenty of space. Short documents, with the essential information first and the detail cut.

Consultation is part of the method. The document is checked by people from the audience, and changed where they were confused.

Easy read differs from symbol-supported text, which puts a symbol above every word; an easy read page has one image per idea and is otherwise plain.

Getting started

If you need information in easy read, ask the service for it, and say that the Accessible Information Standard applies; NHS bodies must record your need and meet it. Many national leaflets already exist in easy read: Mencap and the NHS publish libraries of them, and Beyond Words publishes wordless picture books for health and life events that are one step further.

If you are producing a document, start by cutting it to what the reader needs to know and do, then apply the rules above, then have it checked by people with a learning disability, and pay them for that. CHANGE trains organisations in exactly this.

If you support someone, read the easy read version with them, one idea at a time, and check understanding by asking them to tell you what they will do, not whether they understood.

Where to get help

CHANGE is the specialist easy read producer and trainer, led by people with a learning disability. Mencap has a large library of easy read information and guidance on making it. NHS England owns the Accessible Information Standard. The government's own guidance on accessible communication formats sets out easy read for public bodies. For the wider legal duty, the Equality and Human Rights Commission.