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One person in five has a disability. Over half of those people have more than one disability.

These figures are familiar — but did you think about the able-bodied reader who left their reading glasses at home?

A conversation with Robyn Hunt and Mike Osborne at AccEase has got us thinking about what’s involved in making information accessible, and who needs it.

AccEase works with clients who communicate with disabled customers. Their watchword is ‘All of the information to all of the people, all of the time’.

When they talk about people with disabilities, their list is longer than you may first consider. What about people who cannot hold a page or a pen because of shakes or fine motor problems? Or who have a cognitive disability caused by their medication? People often assume that blind people read Braille — but the Braille-reading population in New Zealand numbers only a few hundred.

Then there are other barriers to accessing information. Less than half of New Zealanders have their own internet connection, and those that do may be using old or non-standard equipment. Around 40% of working-age New Zealanders have difficulty reading.

Mention ‘accessibility’ and people think ‘websites’ — but accessibility is an issue for paper-based documents, and any other way information is presented. Did you know that glossy paper can create glare for a reader who has low vision? Or that grey text on white is as difficult to read on paper as it is on screen?

Accessibility is a feature of plain English. The reader may access your words on a website, in a form, or read aloud by a human or a machine. You want the reader to read the words once, understand them, and act on them.

Robyn describes disabled people as ‘the canary in the coalmine’ for accessibility. If the words and their format don’t work for disabled people, the rest of the population may struggle too.

Visit the AccEase website

Visit Robyn Hunt's blog

Punctuation: I’m relaxing my rules — slightly

When I first started teaching grammar, it was to people who had English as a second language. They craved rules. They wanted me to tell them exactly when they were supposed to use a certain verb tense, and exactly how many exceptions there were to that rule — and could I please list the exceptions?

So I took the ‘rule’ approach to teaching punctuation. I had my three rules for when to use commas, and specific scenarios for when you put the full stop inside the quotation mark, and when you put the full stop outside.

And then in the last few weeks, real life has come along with a bang. I’ve been out of the classroom and into the world of editing, and I’ve realised that, while the rules work most of the time, sometimes they just don’t fit. What people have done in their documents doesn’t work according to the rule book, but the punctuation works perfectly well anyway.

I’ve looked up lots of different books on punctuation, and I’m amazed at how often the authors disagree over the finer points.

So now, humbler but wiser, I’m not throwing the rule book away, but I’m more open to creative punctuation. After all, the only reason punctuation’s there is to help get the message across more clearly.

To serif or not to serif? That is not the question!

Do you need to decide on a font to use for a publication or for your organisation? Don’t limit your discussions to whether you should choose serif or sans serif. (A serif is a fine line finishing the main strokes of a letter, such as at the top and bottom of a Y.)

Several factors affect legibility and readability, and a much broader range of fonts are now available to organisations than ever in the past. Factors include point size, x-height, leading, character spacing, alignment, and typestyles that can affect legibility and readability of type.

Because of this variety of factors, it is very difficult to design a research study that gives a definitive conclusion on such a fundamental issue as ‘serif’ or ‘sans serif’. Indeed, in a literature review of readability research I did some years ago, I found strong research-based opinions for both extremes, plus ‘it doesn’t matter’ in the middle.

This is a good literature review of over 50 empirical studies.

In this study, the researcher made interesting discoveries about the impact of point size, and gives reasons for preferring sans-serif faces for online publication.

Wheildon’s ‘Type and Layout’, published in 1995, and based on research done in Australia, has some interesting findings. I wrote an article on it at the time, a rewritten version of which is still on the web.

Wheildon is a strong supporter of serif fonts in print, but his research has been criticised for using a less legible font as his basis. However, his conclusions on line length and line spacing are strongly supported by researchers across the entire spectrum of opinion.

Saying what you mean

'Well done is better than well said. But, when it comes to plain language in business, well said is easier said than done. For organisations to mean what they say, they must first learn to say what they mean.'

So says South African Christine Leonardi, freelance writer and communications practitioner, in a brilliant article about the need for plain language in corporate communications.

Read the article

'Brainstrain' winners took it on the chin

Since the WriteMark Plain English Awards began in 2006 offering 'Brainstrain' awards for documents and websites that frustrate and confuse, only two organisations have fronted up to collect their dubious awards at the ceremony --- until now.

In Friday's ceremony, held at Parliament, the Commerce Commission collected an award for the worst 'Brainstrain' website and The Office for Senior Citizens collected one for worst 'Brainstrain' document. Both organisations vowed to change their ways --- a great result!

Read about the winners and finalists for all the positive awards too.

Congratulations to the WriteMark Plain English Award winners!

Read about the winners and finalists on the Awards website.

And special congratulations to the Office of the Auditor General for winning the supreme award for Plain English Champion: Best Organisation!

Demand plain English in Plain English Week

'What do you mean? '

These are the words we want everyone to use this week.

Why? Because this is Plain English Week --- a time when we celebrate the best, and refuse to accept the worst. You have a right to understand. So if someone gives you something that is poorly written, say: 'What do you mean?'

Rachel McAlpine, chair of the lobby group Plain English Power, has written about Plain English Week here: http://contented.com/contented/2010/plain-language-even-buskers-need-it/

So has Robyn Hunt, a tireless advocate for making technology accessible: http://www.plainenglish.org.nz/index.php.
This one is Robyn, too: http://www.accease.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.WhatsHot

The highlight of the week will be the WriteMark Plain English Awards, on in the Banquet Hall of Parliament tomorrow night. Watch the Awards website or your newspapers to find out the best --- and the worst --- plain English organisations, documents, and websites in New Zealand. Read more here: http://business.scoop.co.nz/2010/08/19/new-zealand-a-world-plain-english-leader

So why not join Plain English Power?

And remember to celebrate Plain English Week by saying: 'What do you mean?'