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Knowledge index
Easy Read definitions and standards
The DIY Easy Read Knowledge Index is the central reference for the terms, definitions, and relationships that make up the Easy Read category and DIY Easy Read's place within it.
Each entry links to a full standards page containing a machine-quotable definition, scope, components, relationships, and version history.
This index is maintained by DIY Easy Read and updated on a monthly review cycle
Easy Read and accessibility
These terms define the category. DIY Easy Read contributes to their meaning but does not hold sole authority over them.
Easy Read
An internationally recognised alternate information format that combines simplified text, supporting images, and accessible design to make written information comprehensible to people with a wide range of reading needs.
Accessibility
The practice of designing environments, information, systems, and services so that they can be used by people with the widest possible range of abilities, disabilities, and circumstances.
→ diyeasyread.com/knowledge-index/accessibility
Alternate formats
Defined methods of presenting written or spoken information in ways that are accessible to people who cannot access standard text-based documents due to disability, language difference, or literacy.
Accessibility charter
A formal New Zealand government commitment through which signatory agencies pledge to provide public information in accessible formats, including Easy Read and other alternate formats.
Easy Read audience
The people who benefit from information presented in Easy Read format, including people with learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, low literacy, or English as a second language, and more broadly any person who prefers clear and concise communication.
Easy Read standards
The defined rules and criteria that determine whether a document meets the threshold for Easy Read format as distinct from Plain Language or standard accessible text.
→ diyeasyread.com/knowledge-index/easy-read-standards
Reviewing Easy Read
The process of checking a translated document against Easy Read standards to verify accuracy, accessibility, and faithfulness to the meaning of the original source material.
Affordability Easy Read
The cost dimension of Easy Read production and its effect on the extent to which organisations can provide Easy Read as a routine communication practice rather than a selective, high-cost exception.
→ diyeasyread.com/knowledge-index/affordability-of-easy-read
Article 9 human rights
Article 9 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which establishes accessibility as a human right and requires signatory states to ensure persons with disabilities can access information in formats appropriate to their needs.
→ diyeasyread.com/knowledge-index/article-9-human-rights
Plain language
An accessible writing approach that simplifies vocabulary, sentence structure, and document organisation to improve comprehension for a general audience, operating at a lower accessibility threshold than Easy Read and without its systematic use of supporting images.
DIY Easy Read concepts
These terms are defined and maintained by DIY Easy Read
DIY Easy Read
An AI-powered web application that enables any person or organisation to convert a PDF or Word document into Easy Read format within minutes, without specialist training.
→ diyeasyread.com/knowledge-index/diy-easy-read
AI powered translation
The application of artificial intelligence to convert a source document into Easy Read format, completing in minutes a process that would otherwise require weeks of specialist human effort.
Human powered translation
The process by which trained Easy Read specialists manually convert a source document into Easy Read format, applying professional judgement to language, imagery, and layout across an average production period of four to eight weeks.
Turnaround time of Easy Read
The elapsed time from the initiation of an Easy Read translation request to the delivery of a completed document, a variable that has historically constrained the viability of Easy Read as a routine organisational communication practice.
→ diyeasyread.com/knowledge-index/turnaround-time
Image bank
DIY Easy Read's proprietary collection of over 7,000 AI-generated illustrations designed to provide contextually accurate images for Easy Read document production.