Hi. I’m Dave. I’m the ‘Accessible Information Officer’ with the NHS Highland Learning Disabilities team. I also tweet as @EasyReadDave
I find and make ‘accessible’ information for people who have a learning disability. It’s usually called #EasyRead for short (and twitter!)
1/4 Accessible information is an umbrella term for a big umbrella. It’s information that can be understood. It can be info in your first
2/4 ..first language, large print or Braille. What I make uses easy words and pictures. There’s a few other Easy Readerteers on twitter...
¾.. like @changepeople_ who have a great guide here I’ll mention others through the week. #EasyRead avoids..
4/4..avoids or explains jargon. I aim to remove the barriers to NHS services that Jargon can be with #EasyRead.
There is more to #EasyRead than that. Hopefully I will do it justice by the end of the week. but we have a week of tweets to get through so hang on in there....
1/ 4 My week in tweets is not a typical week in the life of @EasyReadDave because a typical week can jst be a lot of working away on..
2/4 ..on my laptop. Not the most exciting thing to tweet. I’m a behind the scenes guy, not working at the more glamorous end of the NHS...
3/4.... I don’t attend emergencies, save lives or even wear a uniform. Shame. I’d like a uniform. Hmm, Maybe you can help me..
4 /4..Tweet me your designs for what you think an Accessible Info Officer uniform or costume (capes are good) cld be. There may be a prize..
1/4 Why have an Accessible Information Officer? NHS Highland (& others) is legally obliged to make ‘reasonable adjustments’...
2/4..Reports like ‘Same as You (Scot Gov) in 2000 & the recent Keys to Life strategy both mention accessible...
3/4..information being a duty of the NHS & local authorities to provide for people. But the @mencap_charity report Death by Indifference..
4/4..& subsequent reports for me, hammer the need for communication home. See ‘1200 avoidable deaths’ -
5/4(!)..#EasyRead version of Keys to Life
Tuesday
To give an idea of what I do, apart from daydreaming abt uniforms or outfits I can dress up in, here’s a brief outline of a recent job
I produced an #EasyRead booklet abt Domestic Abuse wth the Safer Highland Support Team. Here it is
First I informally discuss the need for Domestic Abuse #EasyRead info wth the Child & Adult Protection Development Officer (PDO)..
They feel there is a need for #EasyRead to help people recognise domestic abuse in all its forms when it’s happening to them. Then...
the PDO makes a formal referral. We arrange to meet & over a nmbr of meets (wth staff from a local Women’s Refuge) we discuss content..
I start making thumbnail drawings to help me work out number of pages, layout etc.
There are rules to stick to when making #EasyRead...
(include photo)
abt things like layout, number of sentences etc whn making #EasyRead. There’s a few guides & helpful info (Thanks @Barod-CIC). But 1st..
1st Rule of #EasyReadClub is ‘Involve people wth a learning disability. The 2nd Rule is ‘INVOLVE PEOPLE WITH A LEARNING DISABILITY’..
I have a group who regularly review what I make & send me away to make changes. But after a discussion with them, they felt that...
..the subject wld contain triggers for them. I then contacted an ‘Anti-Bullying Group’ at a local day centre, who were up for it..
I took a draft booklet to the group. And as a result changes (including a pretty major one) were made to pictures & words, which..
..takes me to the 3rd Rule of #EasyReadClub – Don’t be precious abt what you make’. It’s not yours, it belongs to the audience..
..Also, regards the pictures used in the booklet, they are from the ace @Photosymbols and the fab @changepeople..
After changes are made and approved, 5,000 booklets are now printed for me, @LDHighland & the Safer Highland team to distribute...
..the next thing is waiting for feedback. Although I can’t change this booklet, all feedback is noted & informs what I make in future..
.. and any feedback or comments abt the booklet or how I work are welcome.
Wednesday
Good Morning. As well as being the Accessible Information Officer, I’m a new ULR Unison Learning Rep wth @UnisonHighlandThis involves informing staff of upcoming courses run by @UnisonHighland & @UnionLearning & identifying what courses they wld like..
More details abt what ULR’s can do on the Unison site
Did 1st part of Creative Writing course last night via @UnisonHighland & @UnionLearning Lets see if it helps improve my tweets!1/2 Referral frm @HighlandCouncil asking to make #EasyRead for their budget consultation. Hve e-mailed People 1st Highland & Health & ..
2/2..Health&Happiness, a self advocacy group & @CantrayPark to develop the resources for 25th Sept! Shld be interesting work..
I’ll be working on the ‘Pink Box’ 2day, a communication resource the @LDHighland team made about 3 years ago.
One of my first jobs as @EasyReadDave was to revamp the Pink Box.
This article, kindly printed in @LdWales magazine Llais talks about the Pink Box.
I met with our LD Liaison Nurse, LD Nurse Consultant, Dementia Nurse Consultant & Dementia Nurse Practitioner to review the Pink Box..
It was noted the Pink Box was being used with a range of pple with communication support needs, not jst pple wth a learning disability..
So some things taken away & new things added to the Pink Box. Hopefully widening its use will help staff & patients wth communication..
..and raise awareness of the need to use communication in all its forms with people.
This is @EasyReadDave signing off for today. 2mrow I’m at an AHP event wth a poster presentation for @LDHighland service films. TTFN..
Thursday
Morning I’m at the AHP Hidden Assets event at the Centre for Health Science, Inverness. I’ll be tweeting as @EasyReadDave on #ahptha as well
I’m presenting our poster made with the LD OT team abt our film via @YouTube #ahpthaThis film is 1 of a series of films abt the @LDHighland service and includes 3 AHP’s, Dietetics, OT & SLT #ahptha
The aim of the films is to hopefully make the @LDHighland service more accessible & to let pple know what their getting! #ahptha
The other 2 films are abt the @LDHighland Mental Health service and abt ‘Inclusion’ #ahptha
The ‘Inclusion’ film is made with Health & Happiness, Highland wide self advocacy for pple wth a learning disability #ahptha
The ‘Inclusion’ film is still in the planning phase and might become 2 (very) short films abt the work Health & Happiness has done #ahptha
For the AHP films, we plan to use QR codes wth all info leaflets & correspondence to link to the films #ahpthaWe made the films with WeeTV, a locally based film maker who has been very patient & great! #ahptha
I met with the AHP’s concerned, in this case, the OT team. We decided we wld show what an OT can do for someone over a day #ahptha
Some recent research (sorry no link!) suggests that #EasyRead works wth easy to understand language & a narrative #ahptha
Show AND Tell is a good approach when thinking abt #EasyRead. We thought film wld be able to do this #ahptha
This is @EasyReadDave and ‘Who We Are’ signing off now. 2morrow is... Friday!!
Friday
Mornin, @EasyReadDave here for final day. Today I will be mostly tweeting abt other #EasyRead folk out there. If I miss anyone I apologise.#EasyNews, is news reporting in an #EasyRead format frm @UnitedResponse – check it out
2/3 ..this is the story of #EasyNews from @BendyGirl & @People1stEng & @UnitedResponse ..
3/3 ..and the @UnitedResponse blog abt the success of the #EasyNews UR Consultants at the National Charity Awards@NHSinform has the #EasyRead zone here -
Meeting to discuss update our website. We’re going for an #EasyRead page. & hopefully wth help frm Karen the fab @WhoWeAre administrator 1/2 @SCLDNews do courses on making #EasyRead
2/2 @SCLDNews work toward an inclusive Scotland & make #EasyRead wth a variety of groups including the @scotgov.
1/2 .Have had a discussion abt possibility of having a volunteer helping me make #EasyRead. Mght be poaching them frm OTLD team! Wld mean..
2/2..person wth a learning disability involved in#EasyRead production frm start. Discussion still early days but hoping we can make this happen..
As I said earlier in the week, involving the audience in making #EasyRead is vital. & I’m aware I still hve changes to make to do it better
1/6 Here’s a link to the Clear & Easy guidelines developed by @LDWales @EasyReadHealth & @Barod I use...
2 /6...with my Good Information Group (GIG). This is the group of pple wth a learning disability I work with to review the info I make..
3/6..the GIG is facilitated by @LArcheUK Inverness branch who hve been great. It’s every 4 to 6 weeks. Members do change..
4/6.. Some of the GIG will be involved in the next film we are making in 2 weeks! It will be fun..
5/6..I access other groups, like the network Health & Happiness have & the Anti-Bullying group..
6/6..The GIG last looked at an Internet Safety leaflet. Lots of suggestions for our own Highland version. Be an interesting project..
That’s me @EasyReadDave signing off frm @WhoWeAre. Thanks for your time.