Using plain language rules to improve accessibility.

1. THE INTERSECTION
BETWEEN
ACCESSIBILITY AND
PLAIN LANGUAGE
SUZI SHAPIRO, PHD
INDIANA UNIVERSITY EAST
2012 UXPA
JUNE 4-8 2012

2. Plain
Accessibility
Language

3. WHAT I DO

4. I USED TO WRITE FOR
MYSELF!
•What I would want to know
•The way I was taught
•To demonstrate my skills
• organized
• thoughtful
• grammatically correct
• no spelling errors.

5. MY STUDENTS OFTEN
FAILED TO UNDERSTAND
(OR REMEMBER)
WHAT I HAD WRITTEN

6. I BECAME MORE AWARE THAT
People do not READ the way we think that they do.
They scan documents:
Jump around
Look for important or relevant words
They QUIT if bored or confused
They often ignore a large percentage
of the information later in the document
IF THEY READ IT AT ALL!

7. WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?
Can’t I just tell them it is
required?

8. BEHIND EVERY BEHAVIOR
IS A REASON

9. PEOPLE DON’T READ
BECAUSE THEY …
Have “better” things to do
Have different perspectives
Are confused by complex structure
Are unfamiliar with jargon ridden language.
Are affected by limited :
• vision
• mobility
• ability to pay attention

10. U.S. REHABILITATION ACT
OF 1973
Prohibits discrimination
on the basis of disability.

11. SECTION 504
"No otherwise qualified [sic] individual
with a disability in the United States
shall, solely by reason
of his/her [sic] disability,
be excluded from the participation in,
be denied the benefits of,
or be subjected to
discrimination
under any program or activity
receiving federal financial assistance."

12. NOT A BIG DEAL….
How many people are there
who have a disability
that would limit their ability
to read a document?

13. A
“NOT QUITE
REPRESENTIVE”
SAMPLE

14. NATIONAL STATISTICS
(1999)
Number of postsecondary
undergraduate students
in the United States
who report having a disability
6% of the student body

15. SURVEY DATA
Six reporting schools,
Approximately 2.5% of students
5,976 of the 240,122 students

16. WHAT KINDS OF
DISABILITIES
DO STUDENTS
REPORT?

17. DISABILITIES
REPORTED BY STUDENT
Type of Disability %
Learning disabilities 45.7%
Mobility or orthopedic impairments 13.9%
Health impairments 11.6%
Mental illness or emotional disturbance 7.8%
Hearing impairments 5.6%
Blindness and visual impairments 4.4%
Speech or language impairments 0.9%
Other impairments 9.1%

18. DISABILITIES NOT
REPORTED BY STUDENTS?
Common disabilities:
Too tired
Too busy
Too stressed
To think clearly & attend to tasks.

19. HOW CAN I BE SURE….
I am communicating effectively?
I am giving all students
an equal opportunity to learn?
I am not unintentionally
creating barriers?

20. THE SOLUTION
Research on
creating information
that is accessible
and understandable
for the widest possible variety
of people.

21. UNIVERSAL
DESIGN

22. HOW DO WE CREATE DOCUMENTS
THAT COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY?
Simple is good!

23. Plain Language

24. PLAIN LANGUAGE GOALS
Help people to:
• Find what they need
• Understand what they find
• Use what they find
to meet their needs.

25. HOW TO GET THERE!
• Logical organization
with the reader in mind
• "You" and other pronouns
• Active voice
• Short sentences
• Common, everyday words
• Easy-to-read design features

26. MY
RECOMMENDATION
FOR A PROCESS

27. STEP 1
Determine your objectives
or outcomes

28. STEP 2
Ask yourself
•“What are the questions
someone should ask?”
Then, at each point
•“What is needed to continue?”

29. STEP 3
Put information
in an order
that will
• Answer
frequently asked questions
FIRST
• Build information

30. SAMPLE:
ASSIGNMENT ORDER
What is the name of the assignment?
When is the assignment due?
What am I supposed to learn
from the assignment?
What resources do I need
to complete the assignment?
What should I do first? Second? . . .
How do I know that
the assignment is complete?

31. STEP 4
Continue editing
the document
to eliminate
Cross out content
that is not needed.
essential for
completion of the task.

32. STEP 5
IF APPROPRIATE…
Number the parts
in the order
that they should be
completed.

33. STEP 6
Format for
• Accessibility
• Scanning

34. WHY ?
Facilitates online reading
and
use of screen reading software
Helps people to
find information quickly
Organization assists people
with attention problems

35. HOW?
• Expectancy
• Structure
• Redundancy
• Visibility

36. EXPECTANCY:
What information does the reader
expect to find in the document?
– don’t guess, ASK!
• Where do they expect
to find it?
• What do they expect
it to be called?

37. STRUCTURE:
Use headings and subheadings
Use Document STYLES
Heading levels
(Not format changes)

38. STRUCTURE:
Replace paragraphs
with bulleted lists
Numbered lists for items
• that must all be completed or
• that must be done in sequence.

39. REDUNDANCY:
Put important information
in several places

40. REDUNDANCY:
Use multiple types of coding
– style, color, etc.

41. MULTIPLE CODING
WITHOUT HATCHING WITH HATCHING

42. MULTIPLE CODING

43. REDUNDANCY:
Use images
when applicable

44. VISIBILITY:
CONTRAST
Font
Color
Position

45. LARGE FONT SIZE
12 Point minimum
for print and online viewing
14 point minimum
for low vision, children,
or older people (Over 40)

46. SIMPLE FONT STYLE
San Serif
Ariel
Verdana
Serif
Times New Roman
Century Schoolbook

47. AVOID
Combinations of
RED and GREEN
Or
BLUE and YELLOW

48. COLOR BLINDNESS
Watch out !
for combinations
that are hard to discriminate
for people
with color blindness
Or anyone else….

49. THE GOAL?
Documents that
can and will
be read and
understood
by more people.

50. Plain
Accessibility
Language

51. CONTACT ME
Suzi Shapiro
suzi@suzishapiro.com
@afullmind