Weekly Poll Results – COVID-19: Inclusive Communication (Week Beginning 4 May 2020)

Question: Have you received information about COVID-19 in a format that is accessible for you? Examples of accessible information include easy read, braille, audio, British Sign Language, captions and plain text.

Results:

Yes – 54% (41 respondents) No –  46% (36 respondents)

Your Comments:

Accessible Formats Available

Respondents had received important information about COVID-19 in a variety of accessible formats.

“I have received a range of different information from the Westminster and Scottish Governments in an accessible format.”

“Easy read information for people with learning disabilities is available from the government.”

We have been trying to make sure that everyone gets the information in the format required. The Inclusive Communication Hub (www.inclusivecommunication.scot) will hopefully help.”

Concerns

There were concerns that not enough is being done to produce information using accessible formats.

“Jason Leitch’s videos have captions that are light text on dark background. This is fine for people who need high contrast but not fine for people with visual stress who need dark text on a light background. In other words, to be fully accessible, it should be possible to change the colour of the background and text of captions in a video.”

“Okay so far but I am very worried about the BBC decision to save money by discontinuing the BBC television text service because that’s what I rely on the most.”

“All UK and Scottish Government information has been in a print format and not in braille or via email. Moreover, my requests for advice from my local authority has been non-existent or inaccessible due to my visual impairment.”

“There are not enough easy read documents available.”

“My daughter has a moderate learning disability and is very unsure what was happening or why there has been no support given.”

“I can imagine a lot of people will not be able to access information; deaf, disabled and others. The Government seem to forget that not everyone has access to computers at home and libraries and other hubs are not open.”

“As I have a visual impairment I am on shielding list via Scottish Government, standard letter was sent out, as I am on my own, luckily enough I have adequate equipment for me to use , but this is not the case for all visually impaired /blind people.”

Information Overload

A few respondents are concerned that too much information is being shared, which makes it difficult to keep track of clear and concise messaging.

“Abundance of information available. Too much!!!”.

“So much is conflicting – overwhelming sometimes”.

“In some ways there is too much information. It’s difficult to know which is robust, correct and evidenced.”