Presented by ASID Aotearoa New Zealand Division
Thursday, 29 May 2025
3pm – 4pm (NZST – New Zealand time)
1pm – 2pm (AEST – Sydney time)
Webinar: via Zoom
About
Easy Read is part of learning/intellectual disability culture. This presentation will talk about Easy Read; what it is, why it is important and how IHC is working to inform, develop, and use Easy Read with and by people with learning/intellectual disability.
IHC is a New Zealand organisation providing support and care for people of all ages with intellectual disabilities.
Nicolina’s doctoral research explored learning/intellectual disability as a culture, using the affirmation model of disability to highlight cultural literacy practices unique to this community. One key practice is Easy Read, which uses simple words, short active sentences, descriptive pictures, and white space to make information easier to understand. David lives learning/intellectual disability culture and leads much of our Nothing About Us Without Us approach, with input from surveys and our Easy Read Advisory Group.
Best practice for people without learning/intellectual disability is to include people with learning/intellectual disability at every stage of Easy Read process. This is because people with learning/intellectual disability know the most about what they need to understand information. Nicolina and David will outline ways that people with and without learning/intellectual disability can be involved and give examples of how we do this at IHC. They will also discuss recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted Easy Read, which may support people with learning/intellectual disability to take more control as producers and consumers of Easy Read.
Speakers
Dr Nicolina Newcombe – Inclusion Advisor and Easy Read Writer at IHC
Nicolina is autistic and holds a PhD in Education, in which she did inclusive research with people with learning/intellectual disability. She is an Inclusion Advisor and Easy Read writer at IHC and has authored an extensive range of Easy Read publications.
David Corner – National Self Advocacy Advisor at IHC
David Corner is the National Self Advocacy Advisor at IHC. He is a dedicated advocate for people with learning/intellectual disability and has worked with numerous organisations to promote inclusion. David has addressed the United Nations and served on the Council of Inclusion International.
Accessibility
This webinar is for people with intellectual disability, those who support them, and researchers interested in inclusive communication and Easy Read.
The event is a webinar. Some people might like support to get on-line and to make the technology work.
The presentation slides will have writing and pictures on them. Nicolina and David will explain what is on the slides. Some people might like someone to support them with reading the slides.
Nicolina and David will be talking for around half an hour. They will use plain language when they are talking.
People who have got questions, can type these into the chat function during the webinar. This might be hard for some people. There will be a chance for a couple of people to ask questions in person at the end. We might not have time to answer all of the questions.
The webinar will be recorded. Some people might like to watch the webinar again later. This can help with understanding the information.
