ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews approaches to accessible information for people with learning disabilities, with a particular emphasis on making abstract ideas accessible. It is a story that spans approximately 20 years at the time of writing (2008). There is a long history of attempts to promote literacy amongst people whose intellectual and social functioning is limited, through special education, adult education and other initiatives (Hurt, 1988; Read and Walmsley, 2006). But it was only in the late 1980s that the onus began to be put on the producers of information, rather than its recipients, to promote access. I can personally date this to circa 1986, at a time when I was part of an Open University team that had launched Mental Handicap:Patterns for living, a pack of learning materials that aimed to improve communication and understanding between service providers and family members.Very soon after launch, we began to be challenged by advocacy organisations, led by the Camden Society for Mentally Handicapped People, to adapt this package to enable people with learning disabilities to study (Walmsley, 1997).The result was Patterns for Living:Working together, a learning package that featured audio dramas of the leading characters in Patterns for Living and gave access to some quite complex ideas via a ‘soap opera’ format.This was claimed to be the first ever University course produced for people with learning disabilities, and it was part of the beginning of a movement for accessible information that has to date embraced government bodies, researchers, local and health authorities and voluntary organisations, and has arguably contributed to an acceptance that it is the duty of producers of information to make their products accessible.
