People with learning disabilities help to develop Easy Read resources
Approximately 1.3 million people in England have a learning disability. Macmillan Cancer Support worked with an agency with expertise in meeting the needs of that audience, which actively involves them in the production process. It adapted its existing PIF TICK-certified cancer information for this format, with key elements including:
- Text which summarised the most important facts.
- Simple language, broken up into small chunks and short sentences.
- Examples from everyday life.
- Avoiding words or terms that have more than one meaning to avoid confusion.
- Design that follows best practice for accessibility.
- Use of illustrations alongside text to amplify and enhance the content.
Easy Read range reviewed regularly
The charity now has more than 55 Easy Read resources and reviews its range regularly. It adds new resources depending on organisational priorities, usage, feedback from healthcare and other professionals, and innovations in cancer care.
For example, it recently expanded titles on cancer types, combined treatment and side effects titles for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It is also working on a new resource covering some of the new cancer treatments.
Other groups and communities access resources
These resources are well loved and used by those working in the learning disability sector. They are also used within the D/deaf community, by people with lower literacy or where English is not their first language, and in talking to children about a cancer diagnosis.
View Macmillan Cancer Support's Easy Read resources on their website here.
This case study was first published in our Health and Digital Literacy Survey 2025/26 findings report. Read the full report, or an executive summary, here.