If you need some tips about making information easy for anyone, try this little handbook I put together:
http://www.disabilitydynamics.co.uk/index_htm_files/151123%20-%20Accessible%20Communications.docx
One colleague sent me this feedback this week:
“I’m a carer for my dad who has advanced Parkinson’s disease and dementia and the following points especially hit home with me:-
1/ ‘a person may be one of the over 2 million people who need others to have more patience in listening to their speech which is less fluent due to a speech impairment, a stroke’.
My dad now has a severe speech and cognitive impairment and we really have to listen very carefully and try to interpret what he is trying to say, more so now than ever, he often can’t think what he needs to say either.
2/ Talk to the disabled person, not the support person.
This is so true, when we take dad out people often talk to us instead of him which is also frustrating.”
I completely recognise that frustration: I was at a hospital just recently and the person controlling entry and Covid safety measures just couldn’t manage to speak to me. It was rather as if my white cane had become magical: I was invisible, incapable of either hearing or speech. Those who know me will understand how it became an utterly humiliating and embarrassing experience for that wretched person – thank goodness her manager saved her!
The handbook is short, straightforward and free for anyone to use so please share it around. And it helps with Equality Act compliance too.