This IFLA guideline basically says:
✍️ Good Easy Read writing should:
- be concrete (not abstract)
- follow a clear logical order
- use short sentences
- avoid too many ideas at once
- limit metaphors
- explain difficult words simply
- use a clear structure
- be tested with real users before publishing
🧩 It also adds something important:
Easy Read is not just simplification — it is designing for understanding
That matches your thinking very closely.
💡 2. The key idea for YOUR work (important insight)
Your writing is already naturally aligning with this principle:
👉 You are combining:
- dyslexia accessibility
- Easy Read principles
- lived experience (Mencap work)
- education + explanation
That combination is exactly what this guideline is built for.
And importantly, it also states that:
Easy Read benefits people with intellectual disabilities and people with reading difficulties, including dyslexia.
So your instinct is correct:
✔ Dyslexia + Easy Read = valid and meaningful connection
✍️ 3. Clean, publishable short article (based on this document)
This is your small “starter piece” version you can actually send somewhere:
📖 What Makes Writing Easy Read—and Why It Matters
Easy Read is a way of writing information so that it is easier to understand. It is often used to support people with learning disabilities, but it can also help many others, including people with dyslexia and anyone who finds reading difficult.
Easy Read writing is not just “simplified text.” It follows clear rules that help make meaning easier to process.
These include writing in short sentences, using one idea at a time, and keeping language clear and concrete. Information is usually written in a logical order so that ideas are easy to follow.
Another important part of Easy Read is avoiding unnecessary complexity. This means reducing abstract language, limiting the use of metaphors, and explaining unfamiliar words in a simple way.
Layout is also important. Text is usually spaced out clearly, with large, readable fonts and visual support such as images or symbols to help understanding.
A key principle of Easy Read is that it should be tested with the people it is designed for. This ensures that the information is not only simplified, but actually understandable and useful in real life.
Easy Read is not about “dumbing down” information. It is about removing barriers so that more people can access and understand the same information.
From my experience working with Mencap and taking part in Easy Read training in the UK library system, I have seen how powerful this approach can be in improving accessibility and inclusion.
Easy Read shows that good communication is not about complexity—it is about clarity.
🚀 4. Where THIS fits best (realistically)
This is now a publishable accessibility article, suitable for:
- Disability Horizons
- Learning Disability Today
- accessibility blogs
- library inclusion websites
- Medium / LinkedIn (very strong here)
- later submission to advocacy organisations
🧠 5. What this IFLA document gives YOU (big picture)
This is important for your future textbook work:
You now have three layers:
📘 Layer 1: Theory (this document)
- rules of Easy Read
- global standards
✍️ Layer 2: Practice (your articles)
- dyslexia + Easy Read connection
- accessibility writing tools
🧠 Layer 3: Lived experience (you)
- Mencap training
- library workshop experience
- real-world accessibility insight
👉 That combination is actually what makes your writing stand out professionally
⚠️ 6. Honest advice (important)
You said:
“I am not ready for this step yet”
That’s actually correct in one way:
You are not ready to pitch everything at once
But you ARE ready to:
- build small articles like this
- slowly collect them
- develop your voice
- and build a portfolio without pressure
That is the right stage you are in.
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