Spoken Easy Language for Social Inclusion

<< Background >>UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes the importance of accessibility, not just to the physical, but also social, economic, cultural environment, to information and communication, etc. in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. Accessible communication and information are prerequisites for social inclusion.In the framework of accessible communication, Easy Language has proliferated in the last years as a phenomenon to fulfill different functions in society. Although the term Easy Language has traditionally referred to written language, spoken interaction is extremely important, too. Decent progress had been made in the last years to systematize and standardize the methodology of Easy Language, but almost exclusively in a sense of publishing inclusive written content. Thus, methodology and interaction guidelines for Spoken Easy Language needed to be explored and addressed systematically to support people with cognitive disabilities to be able to be included in (adult) education processes and other verbal-based environments.<< Objectives >>SELSI aimed to develop recommendations and strategies for linguistic support in Spoken Easy Language to support adult educators directly, and learners with additional needs indirectly in gaining important skills according to their abilities in most oral-based environments.In the time of the SELSI application, Easy Language had been researched and practiced almost exclusively as a writing methodology. This made SELSI one of the first attempts to deliver a rounded, academically grounded, and practically verified model of communication in Spoken Easy Language in Europe and world. The process brought together stakeholders from many European and non-European countries, proving through the activities and the gained or surpassed indicators, that the cause of SELSI was due and that the guidelines for Spoken Easy Language are needed. Grounding the guidelines in the authentic needs of the target groups was very important for the SELSI partnership. By actively engaging stakeholders, including individuals with disabilities and their representative organizations, throughout the project's lifecycle, we aimed to ensure that diverse perspectives informed the development process. << Implementation >>1. First, SELSI mapped the needs and resources for Spoken Easy language (SEL) communication in Europe. A big part of the research was surveying adult educators, other professionals working in oral-based environments, including broadcasters, and people who need language support in form of SEL, to learn about their preferred and most efficient strategies for one-way and two-way oral communication. Desk research involved literature and article analysis, and review of potential practical guidelines and tools, resulting in a Repository.2. The research from the first stage allowed the partnership to develop recommendations and strategies introducing innovative inclusive methodology. 3. The draft guidelines and methodology were then piloted in 3 national off- and online (adult) learning settings, with educators and adult learners with various needs as validators.4. Finally, the recommendations were fine-tuned based on the base of the testing feedback and introduced as a multimodal multi-lingual online tool, featuring animated videos, pictures and text in English, Slovene, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Swedish.Additionally, rigorous project management, quality planning and monitoring, and dissemination activities were implemented<< Results >>-The main project result is a practical model of non-language-specific recommendations and strategies (guidelines) for oral communication in Spoken Easy Language, as an online multimodal tool. The tool features animated videos, pictures, texts, audio and multilingual support in English, Slovene, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Swedish.The guidelines that are included in the modul were iteratively developed, tested, and refined.-Also, comprehensive reports, Easy Language summaries, peer-reviewed papers to contribute to academic discourse and provide a theoretical foundation for future research on Spoken Easy Language, four Multipliers Events with record-breaking participation levels showcasing project results, fostering knowledge exchange, encouraging collaboration, and a shared online Repository of bibliographical references, literature reviews, and methodological tools created for joint research were produced.-One of the key/desirable ''side effects'' of the project results is reinforced European and global cooperation and networking regarding accessible language and education in spoken settings.