| Abstract [eng] |
Up to 90% of people with intellectual disabilities have some form of communication or reading comprehension problems (Turnpenny et al. 2018), making their right to accessible and Easy Read information particularly important. In Lithuania, the history of Easy Read language is relatively recent. Its development is fragmented and inconsistent: informative texts in Easy Read language are only produced on specific occasions, guidance documents are not always easily accessible or sometimes not available at all, and some projects are discontinued due to the expiry of funding. As a social group, people with intellectual disabilities are part of the „silent“ society, excluded from communities and often subject to discrimination, and it is the responsibility of social work practitioners to empower them and actively involve them in decision-making (Urek 2017). The focus of this paper is on the active involvement of people with intellectual disabilities through the development and adaptation of information in Easy Read language. The aim of the study is to uncover the need for and availability of Easy Read language for people with intellectual disabilities in Lithuania. The objectives of the study are: to identify areas where accessibility of information in Easy Read language is particularly important for people with intellectual disabilities, to find out what problems unadapted information poses for people with intellectual disabilities, to find out what specific features of the text facilitate comprehension of the text, and to make recommendations to improve the quality production and accessibility of easy-to-understand language texts. The participants were 10 people with intellectual disabilities, who were selected according to the following criteria: mild/moderate intellectual disability, ability to read, knowledge of the Lithuanian language, no age limit. A representative of the target group (who has problems with access to information in Easy Read language) was involved in the design and analysis of the questionnaire, and was involved in the different stages of the analysis: she helped to identify the areas where a person with intellectual disabilities may have problems with access to information in Easy Read language, helped to prepare the interview questions, took part in the discussions of the interview questions and made her own suggestions for changes to the questions, and was involved during the coding stage, adjusting the interpretation of the coding and selecting quotes that were relevant to the subject. Data were analyzed based on „adaptive leadership“ principles. The analysis of the study revealed that in Lithuania, not all people with intellectual disabilities know the term Easy Read language, but most of them have problems with inappropriate text: small letters, long sentences, lack of pictures, and blurred fonts. Involving people with intellectual disabilities in the production of such texts has proved to be the exception rather than the rule. |
