Introduction
Easy Read uses clear, everyday language matched with images to make sure everyone understands.
Easy Read documents are helpful for:
- people with disability
- people with English as a second language
- people with lower literacy levels
- anyone who finds them helpful!
These guides introduce advocacy and campaigning. They also provide information about how to take different kinds of action for social change. There’s also information about government, voting and legal rights.
You can use these guides to learn about advocacy and campaigning. You can also use these guides for inspiration for how you can use Easy Read in your campaign so everyone can understand and get involved.
Advocacy
Advocacy is about your voice being heard.
- What is advocacy? People with Disability Australia PWDA – Easy Read (PDF) | Easy Read (Word)
- Speaking up for yourself, People with Disability Australia PWDA – Easy Read PDF | Easy Read Word
- Speaking up for social change, People with Disability Australia PWDA – Easy Read PDF | Easy Read Word
- Standing up for your rights, Women with Disabilities Australia
- What is advocacy, Women with Disabilities Australia
- How to advocate for yourself, Women with Disabilities Australia
- What is discrimination? Women with Disabilities Australia
- Individual Advocacy Handbook, People with Disabilities Western Australia (PDF)
- What makes a good self advocacy project? A Toolkit (PDF)
- Self Advocacy and Safe Story Sharing: A guide for organisations (PDF)
- Speaking Up, Voices Together – 4 Easy Reads about – Why do I need to speak up? When do I need to speak up? How do I speak up? Know your rights.
- Shaunie’s guide to Self-Advocacy – Shaunie is a consultant at My Life My Choice. In this blog, he tells us why he thinks self-advocacy is important and how it has benefited him.
Campaigns
A campaign is a way to tell people about something important. Campaigners try to change something, for example a policy or the way people think.
Government and Politics
The government is the group of people who make big decisions. They are voted in by people like you and me to lead the country. The government makes laws and policies.
- Politics in Australia, Women with Disabilities Australia
- Contacting Elected Representatives, Women with Disabilities Australia
- Contacting your Local Council, Women with Disabilities Australia
- Joining a Political Party, Women with Disabilities Australia
- Information about becoming a candidate in an election, Electoral Commission New Zealand, 2023 (PDF)
Vote
Voting is when a group of people decide something by saying what they want. It can be for electing a leader, passing a law, and other things.
Federal Elections
An election is when people vote to say who they want to make decisions. They choose a candidate or political party. When voting finishes, the votes are counted and the winner picked.
- How to enrol to vote, Australian Electoral Commission Easy read (PDF) | Easy read (Word)
- How to vote at a polling place, Australian Electoral Commission Easy Read (PDF) | Easy read (Word)
- How to vote by mail, Australian Electoral Commission Easy read (PDF) | Easy read (Word)
- How to vote for the House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Commission Easy read (PDF)
- How to vote in the Senate, Australian Electoral Commission Easy read (PDF)
- Your vote for the House of Representatives and the Senate, Australian Electoral Commission Easy read (PDF)
State and Territory Elections
Laws and Rights
Law means rules that everyone has to follow.
Rights are rules about how everybody should be treated fairly.
Australia
- Laws in your state or territory, Women with Disabilities Australia
- Laws against discrimination, Women with Disabilities Australia
- Police, courts and prisons, Women with Disabilities Australia
- Disability Discrimination Act: 25th Anniversary Easy Read Guide, Council for Intellectual Disabilities, Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018 (PDF)
- Your rights in the justice service, Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion (PDF)
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, 2020 (PDF)
International
- International Humanitarian Law Rules about protecting people in armed conflict, The Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre, 2022 (PDF)
- A Guide to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities UNCRPD, Mental Health Reform Ireland, 2021 (PDF)
- What are the UN Conventions?
- Easy read interview: Make the law work well for people with intellectual disabilities: Our interview with Dewi, UN Women, 2021 (PDF)
- An Easy Read guide about how a bill becomes law in New Zealand, New Zealand Parliamentary Service, 2022 (PDF)
Petitions, Committees and Submissions
A petition is a form people sign when they want something to change. A petition to Parliament asks the government to do something like change a law or look at a complaint.
A submission is a document or recording that explains your experience or an idea you have. Submissions tell the government what people think about things like new laws.
- Submission to Disability Royal Commission Saying sorry for disability institutions, Council for Intellectual Disability, 2022 (Australia), PDF
- How to Make a Submission to a Select Committee (New Zealand)
A committee is a group of people who meet to discuss an issue. Sometimes committees make recommendations, for example about new laws.
- Talking to a Select Committee, New Zealand Parliamentary Service, 2021 (PDF)
- About Select Committees, House of Commons UK, 2011 (PDF)
Skills and Tools
Social Media and Internet
- How to set up a Gmail account, Avista, 2021 (PDF)
- How to get started on Facebook
- How to set up and use email
Public Speaking
- Public Speaking Tip Sheet, Centre for Intellectual Disability (PDF)
- Have a go at Public Speaking (Presentation)
Meetings and working with others
- Online Meetings Checklist, Centre for Intellectual Disability (PDF)
- How to join a Zoom meeting with a phone or a tablet, Inclusion Ireland, 2021 (PDF)
- How to join a Zoom meeting with a laptop or a computer, Inclusion Ireland, 2021 (PDF)
- Starting your own group, Women with Disabilities Australia
