INFORMATION STANDARDS: PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY
Disability Discrimination Act Standards about Getting and Understanding Government Information
NOTE: This document is issued by the Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department. The Australian Human Rights Commission has put it here on its World Wide Web site for your convenience.
Contents
1. What is the Disability Discrimination Act?
3. What kind of standard are we talking about here?
4. Is this standard about any information?
5. What should this standard say?
6. Questions about getting information from the government
1. What is the Disability Discrimination Act?
The Disability Discrimination Act (the "DDA") is a law that says that
people with a disability should be treated fairly. They should not be
treated badly just because they have a disability. The law tries to make
sure that people with a disability get a fair go.
2. What are standards?
The DDA says that standards can be written about the law. Standards
are rules about different parts of the law, that help to make it easier
to understand. Standards can be about things like:
- how wide doorways should be so that people in wheelchairs can get in buildings just like anybody else; or
- what questions a person can ask about your disability when you are trying to get a job.
3. What kind of standard are we talking about here?
This paper is only about one kind of standard. This standard is about
how people with a disability have the right to understand what the government
says to them. This might mean that the government should say things in
a different way, such as in plain English. Everybody should be able to
get information from the government in a way that they understand.
4. Is this standard about all information?
No. This standard is only about information given to you by the Commonwealth
government, which is the government of Australia. It is not about information
given by the State governments, such as the government of Victoria. This
is because the rules under the DDA can only be for the Commonwealth government.
5. What should this standard say?
Standards can help to make the law easier to understand. But the group
that is writing this standard needs to know what it should say. The next
part of this paper is a list of questions. These questions are about how
the government should say things to people with a disability in a way
that they understand. You can have your say by answering some of the questions
here. You can answer them by writing things down, or by ringing up, or
by telling somebody else. If you can think of anything else that is important
about understanding what the government says, put that down too, even
if it is not in the questions.
6. Questions about getting information from the government
(a) Some general questions
- Should the standard just say that the government should make sure everyone gets information they can understand? Or should it list the kinds of things people with a disability need, such as plain English or audiotape?
- Should the government always have to give out information in ways that people with a disability can understand? Or do they only need to if a person with a disability asks them to?
- If the government puts information in plain English or on audiotape, should the person with a disability have to pay for that?
- A person with a disability might have to go to a building to get information from the government. Should the standard say that they have to be able to get into the building, for example if they use a wheelchair?
(b) Getting information that is printed on paper
- Should the government always have to give out information in large print, on tape, in plain English, in "words and pictures" and in other ways?
- Can you think of any times when the government should not have to give out information in these ways?
- If government jargon has to be put into plain English or another form, who should do this? Should community groups or other groups be hired by the government to do it? Or should the government have to do it?
- Should you always get plain English or taped information at the same time other people get information printed on paper? If not, when should you get it?
- Sometimes people with a disability understand words and pictures and plain English best. Are there any other ways that might help a person who has trouble understanding information?
- Sometimes a person with a disability needs somebody else to read out information to them. Should the government have to pay this person if it is government information?
(c) Getting information on computers
- Sometimes people send a computer disc instead of paper with information on it. Should the government be able to do this instead of sending out information in large print or on tape?
- Should the government have to make it easier for people with an intellectual disability to use computers to get information? What should the standard say about this?
- The government may sometimes put information on computer rather than on paper for people to read. If the government does this, should it have to make sure community groups have computers and people who know how to use them?
(d) Getting information on television
- The government sometimes puts information on television, like when there is an election. Should there be rules about making sure that people who cannot hear well can understand that information?
(e) Getting information on the telephone
- People who are deaf or who cannot hear sometimes have special kinds of telephones. Should the government have to have some of these telephones, so that those people can ring them up?
(f) Getting information by talking to a person in the government
- A person with a disability may need help understanding what a person in government is saying. This may be because they can not hear or speak, or they may just need some support. When should the government have to give the person that support?
- Some people with a disability need special equipment to say what they want to say to the government. Should the government have to pay for this? Or should the person with a disability have to pay for it?
