Learning to Communicate

To work effectively with people who do not read and write well, community agencies need to rethink how they communicate. Communication is not just putting words on paper or telling people what they need to know. The design of your offices says something to people. So does the way workers and volunteers handle reading and writing tasks for people using your services.

Although it may seem helpful to just take over and do the task yourself for someone who is having difficulty, there may be a better solution. Perhaps your organization can make the task easier for people with low literacy skills to handle. If the individual is interested, a referral to a literacy program may ultimately give the person the power and ability to handle a broad range of reading and writing challenges.

Whether or not people with poor reading and writing skills take literacy upgrading classes, you can make them more comfortable using your organization's services. As you make changes in your pamphlets, forms, and procedures to make them more easiy understood, test them out on people who have used your services. They are the best judges of whether your language and methods are user-friendly.

Here are some things you can think about when you look at how accessible your organization is to people who cannot read and write well.

Look at Your Reception Area

If you couldn't read or write, how would you see your organization when you walked in? Would you feel comfortable? Would you notice bulletin boards filled with letters and memos and wordy posters? Are forms and papers piled up in baskets on the front desk? Does everyone seem to be too busy to talk quietly with you? Is there a waiting area right next to the spot where you might have to tell someone, “Sorry, I don't understand this form...”

The first impression your agency makes on people is very important. People who can't read and write well may have taken a long time to decide to come to your office, even though they need your help. They've taken a first step. But if the reception area looks threatening, people who need help may leave anyway.

People might make up an excuse to get angry when they're handed a form to fill out, saying, “Hey, I don't need this kind of hassle!” Perhaps they'll leave quietly, taking the form and saying, “Can I bring this back tomorrow?” They're going to get a friend to help them fill in the form. Maybe that's okay. But they may have really needed your help today. The service you provide is important, after all.

What would it take to change things so that people who can't read and write well may feel more comfortable in your agency?

Making a first impression

• Place the chairs in the waiting area away from the reception desk. Give people a little privacy when they first approach you.
• Put up posters and art work with strong pictures and drawings, simple words and ideas. Take down the ones that are just lists of the steps to be followed or the rules you live by. Watch out for bulletin boards crammed with wordy pieces of paper.

Put people, not paper, first

• Put the forms out of sight. And don't just hand them to people along with a pen. Ask if they need your help, and do it in a way that won't embarrass them. Try, “Would you like me to fill that out with you, or would you prefer to do it yourself?” Make the easier idea, the one that takes the literacy burden off the person using your service, the first one you mention.
• Make the forms as simple as you can. One organization had to train its staff to complete its forms. It finally realized that, if their staff needed training, they couldn't really expect people using their service for the first time to be able to handle the form. Get some people who have used your services for some time to give you a hand. Have them comment on the form as you make changes to make it simpler.

Use clear language

• Pamphlets and sheets of paper that describe what your agency does are, of course, very important to people who want to use your services. Some pamphlets are very well designed, with clear drawings and simple language. Others use the same language that the workers and volunteers use among themselves every day. That's good for you, but will people using your services for the first time understand what you mean?

A literacy organization or a writer can often help you put together information that is short and simple and that gets the job done better for you. Test out your new pamphlet on people who have already used your services. Ask them to tell you if they think it's clear, or if the information is confusing.

One picture can be worth...

• Videos cost more than pamphlets, but if your agency has the money, or if it already has a camcorder and uses videos, consider making one for the reception area People who watch the video can see how your service works. They don't have to rely on pamphlets or staff members to get the information.
• Posters may be cheaper than videos and can also be effective. With an artist's help, you can show drawings of what happens as people use your services. Test out the drawings with people who have used your services to make sure the images get your message across. A drawing that sends the wrong message to people, or one that people simply don't understand, can do more harm than good.