Plain Language

By David Frye

A few years ago, I was asked to go to a Disability Inclusion Conference. The whole package was paid for, and it sounded great. It felt good to be asked. But once I got there, things changed.

When I went to some of the workshops, I was like, “Whoa—this is way over my head.” They were talking in professor language, doctor language. It was not plain language at all.

When I brought it up and said that the conference needs to be in plain language, they gave me a booklet to read. I tried to use their material in plain language, but it was laughable. It should be broken down in ways you can really understand and not use gigantic words.

David Frye, pictured far right, was a keynote presenter at Green Mountain’s Voices and Choices conference in 2025. Pictured from left to right: Max Barrows, Randy Lizotte, and Tesha Thibodeau joined Frye on stage, speaking and leading together as they celebrated Green Mountain’s 30 years of advocacy.

Then I went to dinner with professors who spoke way over my head. I felt just this small—like I was the dumb one in the crowd. I felt like I didn’t belong there. They were all talking very professionally. One person was a student who had graduated from a university, from a disability inclusion program.

I remember thinking I couldn’t wait for the dinner to be over so I could go back to my hotel room and melt down. The whole evening was too much.

Meetings have to be held in a way that I can understand, so I can engage better in the conversation. If we don’t understand, we can get bored very easily. When you understand, you feel like you belong. You feel like we all have something in common.

People with disabilities need to be at the table, especially when policies are being made. Too often, decisions are made by people without disabilities. I believe we are the experts—we have done the work, and we live in the shoes of people with disabilities. If you don’t have a disability, you don’t really know what our days are like. You don’t know what we go through, the sacrifices we make, or the struggles we face every day.

There needs to be people with disabilities at the table to help put things in a way we can understand. When information is in our language, we can give real feedback.

If someone is talking over my head, the whole conversation is going to go straight out the door. People with intellectual disability may also need more time to grasp ideas, even after they have been broken down into clearer words.

When it is an eye-to-eye conversation, and when things are broken down, we can understand—and we can all grow. I love it when conferences have breakfast roundtables for people with disabilities. Conversations with other self-advocates are easier because we understand each other, and we feel like we are part of the conversation.

It is so important to feel like you belong to the group. We feel proud of what we are able to contribute.