Greetings to all
I am hoping someone out there may have some ideas or interesting
experiences about producing plain language simultaneous interpretation for
people with learning difficulties attending meetings (other than just
whispering in the person's ear!).
A colleague of mine was recently at a conference on disabilities, attended
by quite a number of people with developmental disabilities. These people
were excluded from almost all the presentations by the level of language
being used, although this was supposed to be an inclusive conference, with
great care being taken to ensure physical access, signers etc.
We are a group of plain language enthusiasts in Calgary. We already produce
written documents in easy-to-read language and we are now wondering how the
problems of spoken language can be addressed. One possibility might be to
create a system (probably computer-based) using simple written language and
pictures (produced as fast as stenographers do in trials) so that more
people can participate in events such as community meetings, board meetings
etc. There are tremendous problems to be overcome, of course, but we
thought we should begin by looking at anything that is already in use "out
there." From there we will write a proposal and look for funding.
If anyone has come across something, or has ideas about it, I would really
welcome feedback from you.
Thanks - Janet Pringle
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