On March 28, 2024, GAO issued our first Easy Read version of a report we issued one month earlier related to the coordination and monitoring of federal autism activities. We reported that the National Institutes of Health followed several practices to help federal agencies work well together in promoting the health and well-being of people with autism. But it could be doing more, and we recommend ways to help.
Easy Read is a method that some organizations have used to help make their written information easier to understand for certain individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This method can involve different writing and display techniques, depending on the organization using it. We identified organizations in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia that have developed Easy Read documents. For example, in 2024, the United Nations created an Easy Read version of a report from the Secretary General. You can find a copy of the original United Nations report and a link to the “Easy-To-Read” version here.
We developed the Easy Read version of our report by:
- Converting our original report to shorter sentences and simpler language.
- Adding more space and reducing the amount of information on each page.
- Using a Q&A format with headers for each section.
- Bolding and subsequently defining important words.
- Including illustrative graphics to correspond with text.
For an example of these practices, see a section from our Easy Read report below.
In our Easy Read version, we aimed to provide a holistic overview of the original report. The original report was conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards, and has more details to support the recommendations we made to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Consistent with GAO’s core values, we are committed to the disability community. We look forward to other opportunities to demonstrate that commitment through this and other efforts.