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Re: Help With Plain Language And Learning Disabilities

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From: Mallory
Date: Nov 2, 2016 3:18PM

Ashley Bischoff did a talk on it at CSUN last year as well.
http://www.csun.edu/cod/conference/2016/sessions/index.php/public/presentations/view/285
Someone I know who saw it said it was amazing. She's got slides
http://www.handcoding.com/presentations/plaina11y/#cover

_mallory

On Mon, Oct 31, 2016, at 06:58 PM, whitneyq wrote:
>
> Ive always liked Angela's articlevand have done similar presentations at
> CSUN and AccessU among others. My slides are on Slideshare (dl the
> accrssible PPT there)
> She studied at UBalt with Dr. Summers.
>
> Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> -------- Original message --------From: "Tyllick,Cliff S (HHSC/DADS)"
> < <EMAIL REMOVED> > Date: 10/31/16 11:05 AM (GMT-05:00)
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> > Subject: Re:
> [WebAIM] Help With Plain Language And Learning Disabilities
> Whitney, thanks for that list of references! I hadn't known about Ginny
> Redish's earlier articles. I'll have to read them soon!
>
> Vanessa, I'll add a more recent article to the list. This is not
> scholarly, but pragmatic. It addresses especially well these points:
> - Making information readable does not mean "dumbing it down."
> - The reader's measured reading ability doesn't matter. For all readers,
> what does matter is the ability possible with the cognitive resources
> available, which depends on the situation as well as the reader.
> - Following a specific set of techniques can help ensure that your
> message is accessible to the broadest set of audiences possible.
>
> The article is Angela Colter's "The Audience You Didn't Know You Had."
> The original is in Contents Magazine:
> http://contentsmagazine.com/articles/the-audience-you-didnt-know-you-had/index.html
>
> And a copy, including the comments, is posted as a PDF here:
> http://www.springfield.k12.or.us/cms/lib03/OR01000651/Centricity/Domain/19/Staff%20Resources/Website/Considering_Your_Content.pdf
>
> Angela also cites 20 references. I'm not sure how much overlap there is
> with the group Whitney has provided or pointed to.
>
> I have used Angela's article as the basis of a 60-minute class teaching
> engineers, other scientists, and regulatory officials how to write
> clearly. Reading this highly enjoyable article takes about 15 minutes. As
> I told my students, it's great to bookmark for something that is easy,
> refreshing, and educational--a way to accomplish something and
> re-energize yourself when work has numbed your mind.
>
> Give it a try and see if you find it as helpful as my students and I did.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Cliff
>
> Cliff Tyllick
> EIR Accessibility Coordinator
> Texas Health & Human Services Commission
> 512-438-2494
> <EMAIL REMOVED>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf Of Whitney Quesenbery
> Sent: Monday, October 31, 2016 8:56 AM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Help With Plain Language And Learning Disabilities
>
> Start with:
>
> Design to read brought together researchers in a number of specialisms to
> look at overlaps in recommendations. There are some good links there and
> a
> bibliography <http://designtoread.com/Bibliography>;
> http://designtoread.com/
>
>
> http://centerforplainlanguage.org
> http://www.plainlanguage.gov/
>
>
> The work of Kathryn Summers is particularly good. Here's one article.
> Reading and Navigational Strategies of Web Users with LowerLiteracy
> Skills
> <http://redish.net/images/stories/PDF/summers_asist2005.pdf>;
>
> Short article:
> http://civicdesign.org/writing-election-information-that-everyone-can-read/
>
>
> Ginny Redish <http://redish.net/books>; on readability formulas,
> including:
> Redish, J. C., 2000, Readability formulas have even more limitations than
> Klare discusses, ACM Journal of Computer Documentation, 24 (3), August,
> 132-137.
>
> Redish, J. C. and Selzer, J., 1985, The Place of Readability Formulas in
> Technical Communication, Technical Communication, 32 (4), November,
> 46-52.
>
> Joe Kimble <http://www.cooley.edu/faculty/kimble.html>; is a legal scholar
> (who also rewrote things like Federal jury instructions). His book
> Writing
> for Dollars, Writing to Please
> <https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1611631912> is (despite the clickbait
> title) a really good collection of the empirical evidence.
>
> On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 8:55 AM Preast, Vanessa < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> wrote:
>
> Would you be willing to share the citations for the articles or other
> evidence that real plain language improves access? This information could
> be helpful when trying to train academics how to write more clearly
> without
> dumbing down the materials.
>
> Best,
> Vanessa
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> Behalf
> Of Whitney Quesenbery
> Sent: Saturday, October 29, 2016 6:34 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Help With Plain Language And Learning Disabilities
>
> I'd say "Don't rely on readability statistics" but I know that's not what
> you asked.
>
> There is a LOT of evidence that real plain language does improve access
> for
> people with a variety of reading disabilities.
> And there is a LOT of evidence that grade levels are not an adequate way
> to
> assess plain language.
>
> Whitney
>
> On Sat, Oct 29, 2016 at 7:12 AM JP Jamous < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:
>
> > What version of Word are you using?
> >
> > I bought office personal edition 365 2016 and ran into lots of issues
> > with it at first with Outlook mostly. It was so bad I had to format my
> > C: drive, because the registry was corrupt.
> >
> > It works fine now, but if I search a folder using all fields, it
> > throws a message at me stating that there isn't enough resources to
> > perform this task, when that is not true. My machine is massive as far as
> resources.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: WebAIM-Forum [mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> ] On
> > Behalf Of Jim Homme
> > Sent: Friday, October 28, 2016 2:46 PM
> > To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> > Subject: [WebAIM] Help With Plain Language And Learning Disabilities
> >
> > Hi,
> > I can't seem to get the Readability Statistics dialog in Word 2016 to
> > come up, even though I have that option checked in options, Check
> > Grammar With Spelling checked, and US English set as the default
> > language. Does anyone know how I can further trouble-shoot this?
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Jim
> >
> >
> > =========> > Jim Homme,
> > Accessibility Consultant,
> > Bender HighTest Accessibility Team
> > Bender Consulting Services, Inc.,
> > 412-787-8567 <(412)%20787-8567> <(412)%20787-8567>,
> > <EMAIL REMOVED>
> >
> > http://www.benderconsult.com/our%20services/hightest-accessible-techno
> > logy-solutions
> > E+R=O
> > <http://www.benderconsult.com/our%20services/hightest-accessible-techn
> > ology-solutionsE+R=O>
> >
> --
> *Whitney Quesenbery*
> (lists) <EMAIL REMOVED>
> (work) <EMAIL REMOVED>
> *Please note* My email address has changed. Please be sure to update your
> contact information with my new email address.
> > > > > > > >