Are You Communicating Clearly?

The Act says it's discriminatory not to produce information in accessible formats, but what does that mean? For service providers distributing information to groups that include people with disabilities, it can be difficult to understand what's required to stay on the right side of the law and avoid embarrassing slip ups. Indeed, organisations often find that people without disabilities also prefer to read information that is clear.

Reach is an Asist project working directly with people with a learning disability. We understand the responsibility to produce clear information, and have a ten year track record of award winning success in helping organisations including councils and PCTs.

Using state-of-the-art tools, our designers can provide a range of solutions from printed documents to graphic design to film production. We work extensively with people with a learning disability and can arrange consultations or focus groups if needed.

What's more, as a registered charity, our pricing is not only highly competitive, but any surpplus we make goes straight back into our services, helping you demonstrate corporate social responsibility in your procurement processes.

Reach has worked with many partners in Health, Social Care and Education; these are just a few of their comments about Reach:

"The Trust has been working hard to react to the needs of patients who have learning difficulties... we have been greatly assisted in our work by Reach who ensure that service users are represented and very much involved in our work. Without their support we would have experienced much difficulty in not only accessing these service users but engaging with them to make improvements." Helen Inwood, Deputy Chief Nurse, Patient Experience, UHNS NHS Trust.

"[Reach's] work has enabled people with a learning disability to read strategy documents [including] the City's Joint Strategic Needs Assessment." Kevin Day, Commissioning Manager, Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

"Reach are a very dynamic organisation whose key strengths are around supporting and empowering people with a learning disability through collaborative working and sensitive communication. [Reach] have established a national reputation for the quality of their work, and have been involved in award winning joint ventures with partners in health and social care." Dr Sue Read, Reader In Learning Disability Nursing, Keele University.

Reach works with people with a learning disability to clarify documents, breaking down the meaning of words to produce clear, concise information. These people are our Reach Experts. Here are a few of their comments:

"Pictures and plain English helps us understand signs and information, this helps us to take part like everyone else." Alan Titley, Reach Expert.

"Clear info makes my life easier and using no jargon is important to me so I know what's going on." Carl West, Reach Expert.

"Using coloured paper and pictures makes it easier for me to understand information". Mary Carr, Reach Expert.

As you might imagine, it's difficult to give a standard price as it will depend on the length of the document, the complexity of the ideas contained within it, and the extent to which the client wishes us to involve people with a learning disability. Our basic cost for a designer is a highly competitive £230 per day and, because we realise that it can be frustrating not to get an indicative price up front, we have given some examples of recent pieces of work below:

Small: Production of a 1 page standard letter for distribution to people with a learning disability, took a half day to complete at a total cost of £115.

Medium: Production of a 12 page A5 booklet involving several consultations with the customer and the creation of bespoke illustrations, took 3 days at a total cost of £690.

Large: Production of a 70 page Quality Account with multiple graphs and statistics. The account was produced in clear words and pictures versions and an audio version suitable for both CD and download from the web. The production involved numerous consultations with people with a learning disability on meaningful ways to represent statistics. The work took 12 days at a total cost of £2,760.

We are happy to receive enquires and give an intial assessment of a work request. You may be assured that we will always agree any costs with you before they are incurred.

Contact: Reach Clear Information, Winton House, Stoke Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2RW

Phone: 01782 747872

Email: clearinfo@asist.co.uk