Plain Language

By Phillis Schmidbauer and Darius Cunningham

We work on the Plain Truth Project. We talk about the news. People with disabilities can’t always get the news.

Some people can’t get the news because they don’t have internet, television, or a newspaper. Some people can’t hear it. Some people can’t see it. And some people can’t understand it when they get it.

We do many things with the Plain Truth Project. We went to Washington, D.C., and spoke on a panel with other people with disabilities. We talked to reporters. It’s important for them to know how we get the news. We did research about how people with disabilities get and understand the news. We helped write a research paper sharing what we learned.

We went to Chicago and did a presentation about the Plain Truth Project [at the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities World Congress] on how to get the news. We also presented in Port Clinton, Ohio.

We spoke in front of a lot of people, and they had a lot of questions about the news. We sat and spoke to them in person.

It’s important that people with disabilities have news they understand. We need to know what’s going on in the world. We need to know when things happen in the world. For example, the government shut down in October and everyone said, “what’s going on?”

People didn’t get their food stamps for a while.

A man with facial hair, wearing a dark sweatshirt, smiles as he looks forward.

A woman with glasses, wearing an orange top, smiles as she looks forward.

People with disabilities need to know about their health. During COVID, people with disabilities needed to understand what was happening to know that the masks and vaccines helped to protect you from getting COVID. People need to know what to do if they get sick. So they know the precautions.

People with disabilities need to know what’s happening in their cities. They need to know when businesses close. Every day, there are shootings, and there are car accidents everywhere.

People with disabilities should be able to get news about whatever they like. We need accessible news about all subjects, not just disabilities. We care about things like celebrities, racism, and animal abuse.

Everyone should be able to listen to or read the news. People with disabilities can have help from their family or staff or people in the stores.

We need to make change. We could do a better job including people with disabilities in the news. It will give people with disabilities more opportunities.

We feel good being consultants on the Plain Truth Project. We want to continue.

I, Phillis, like to help people so they can recognize and understand the news. I want to make things more accessible. I, Darius, want people to know what’s going on. I think everyone should be happy and free.