Scotland’s first easy read newspaper launched in Aberdeen by Dame Anne Begg MP

May 1, 2013 - PRLog -- . Easy News, produced and distributed every two months by disability charity United Response, translates the biggest news stories of the day into simple language with helpful illustrations, making it ideal for people with learning disabilities and many others who are sometimes put off newspapers by the complex language used.

The newspaper was launched at Café Coast in Aberdeen, a social enterprise run by Scottish disability charity Inspire, with the Scottish Consortium for Learning Disabilities as United Response’s launch partners for the event. The guest of honour was Dame Anne Begg, MP for Aberdeen South, and the launch was attended by people with learning disabilities from the Aberdeen area supported by Inspire.

Dame Anne said: “I was very impressed when I attended the launch of Easy News in the House of Commons so I was keen that it should be available in Scotland too.  I’m particularly delighted that the Scottish launch is happening in Aberdeen. Not having access to news in a format which you can understand can make you feel left out of what is happening in the world. I hope that as many people as possible in Aberdeen will benefit from this newspaper.”

United Response’s own research has shown that only 11% of people with learning disabilities read newspapers, usually because they are deterred by the difficulty of the language. Partly as a result, just 16% of people with learning disabilities said they were interested in politics, and over half didn’t feel that politics actually had an impact on their daily lives. The newspaper is translated into “easy read” by United Response consultants, a team of people with learning disabilities.

Easy News is designed to change that, with 58% of respondents saying that they would be interested in reading an accessible newspaper with simple language and strong visual images to help people understand.

Rob Hughes, Head of Operations and Business Development at Inspire, said: “We are pleased to be able to support a forward thinking project such as Easy News. Here at Inspire we are big believers in equal rights, and one of those rights is access to information. People can only make good choices when they are well informed. We think it’s important that disabled people in Scotland benefit from Easy News, and will be doing our bit to spread the word here too.”

Easy News will be produced every other month and will be available in paper, downloadable PDF and audio versions. The second edition covers the horsemeat scandal, the Oscar Pistorius court case, a new report into disability benefits, the long winter and the EU referendum, amongst other topics.

Disabled people, and organisations or people that support them, can sign up to receive Easy News in a print or an online format – visit www.unitedresponse.org.uk/easynews for more information.