Getting information in an emergency can mean the different between life and death. Or at least the difference between feeling helpless and knowing what to do. But communication is a complex process and not everyone responds to the same methods. So what is accessible information? It’s information provided in different formats.
Easy Read and Easy English use pictures as well as words. These are good for the 44% of the population with a low level of literacy. Targeting this group means people with higher levels of literacy can also get the message. It’s universal design.
Other formats are braille and Auslan, and captioning for videos. The Disability Discrimination Act lists places and services that must not discriminate, but there is nothing specific about information methods. This is something that needs to be made clearer in the legislation. However, the Commonwealth and state governments have policies to cover the provision of information.
Accessible emergency and crisis information
Researchers found four things to improve crisis information.
- Accessible information providers, such as Easy Read professionals, are not experts in the subject at hand. They need support from experts such as doctors or police.
2. Accessible information providers need to stay up to date with changing details. Having one direct source is the best way to manage this.
3. Making high quality accessible information takes time and skill. It’s essential to have the capacity and capability ready to act – don’t wait for the crisis to happen.
4. Agencies need to be upskilled. Sometimes crisis information needs to be available immediately such as an evacuation order. Emergency services need more baseline skills to make this information themselves.
The title of the article from The Conversation is, Crisis communication saves lives – but people with disability often aren’t given the message. The call for action is to have accessible crisis information included in a new Disability Rights Act.
Media organisations, businesses and services need to get on board too. The more people who produce accessible information, the better.
War time crisis communication
A Masters thesis on crisis communication for older people in a war-related scenario uses personas as a means of highlighting the issues. Knowing where the meeting points are at a time of crisis are essential, but how best to communicate these. Information channels need to go beyond the Internet and be easily understood. Planning for a crisis from an older person’s perspective automatically includes all ages.
This thesis explains in detail the process used to suggest changes needed for older people to be accommodated in crisis planning.
The title of the thesis is, Crisis communication for elderly: Designing information channels ensuring elderly access to shelters and meeting points in a war-related scenario. The translation from Swedish is not smooth but the points are clear. Note that the use of the word “elderly” is not preferred in Australia, but translations often default to this.
From the abstract
Crisis preparedness has become a greater focus in Sweden since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022. Therefore, information at a national level is required to ensure safety.. However, there is a risk that older people could have difficulties understanding information provided.
The Internet is often used as an information channel, but not everyone can access this. This study investigated different crisis communication channels in Sweden and how they can be tailored for older people. Shelters and meeting points also need to be designed to include older people.
Observations of shelters in Gothenburg and interviews with municipalities were carried out. To guide authorities for future development of crisis information a combination of guidelines,
personas and concept proposals are suggested. The concepts proposed are a physical shelter map that can be printed directly from the shelter map MSB (Swedish civil contingency agency).
Proposed concepts for meeting points are a brochure with information about the
meeting points that each municipality will offer their citizens. Proposed solution for prioritising the elderly at a meeting point is also suggested with a queuing system and an “area for elderly”.
To understand the concepts and feelings involved, storytelling for both proposals was developed explaining the user journey. This project can be used for further exploration of concepts proposals and development of crisis communication channels and planning for meeting points.