The provision of good quality information and advice is central to any service. Everyone should have access to this information so that they can access services and exercise their rights. Information and advice play a key role in any strategy which promotes social inclusion.
Advice should offer more than just an opportunity to resolve problems. It should also present options. It should include identification of the following:
- needs,
- aspirations,
- problems,
- constraints,
- resources.
Disabled people can have highly individual needs. These can include communication support needs and preferred information format requirements.
These should include the following:
-
sign language interpreter,
- deafblind interpreter,
- lipspeaker,
- notetaker,
- speech-to-text transcription,
- loop system.
Staff should be aware of communication support services and how to access them.
This should include the following:
-
large print,
- audio tape or CD,
- British Sign Language,
- braille and Moon,
- an easy-to-understand version in plain English with graphics, avoiding jargon and acronyms.
Staff should be aware that these formats alone may not be enough. It might be necessary to make arrangements to provide one-to-one communication support to enable access to routine information.
Go to the next page: The Information and Advice Process
(c) Scottish Accessible Information Forum, 2007
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