Converting an ordinary text into an accessible text is a task that includes different stages. One of them is the writing of the texts in easy reading, a writing system designed so that people with reading comprehension difficulties can understand the information given to them. These difficulties can occur in various groups, one of them being people with intellectual disabilities.
What is the validation of the texts in easy reading?
The validation of the easy-to-read texts is the last step to convert an ordinary text into an accessible text. Once written in easy reading, a group of people with different degrees of reading comprehension difficulties read it, analyze it, evaluate it and make proposals for changes, if necessary. In short, they find that it is understandable and suitable for people with this characteristic. Once this step has been done and the changes have been integrated, we can put the official seal that certifies the accessibility of our texts.
At Som — Fundació we have been committed to cognitive accessibility for a long time. We have a program that is dedicated to adapting all communications and documents that we deliver to the people we support. We have trained some of our professionals so that they know how to write following these criteria and we have a group of people with intellectual disabilities that meets every month to validate the texts that we adapt. The group is led by a professional expert in accessibility who, in our case, is responsible for the Cognitive Accessibility program, Àngels.
This is our grain of sand to contribute to the construction of an inclusive society and guarantee the right of access to information for people with intellectual disabilities: we promote cognitive accessibility to our entity and link the people we support in the process , training them and giving them a fundamental role in the development of this program.