Access Easy English will provide you with a
personalised service for your business.
Access Easy English will provide:
- Expert advice on how to introduce Easy English to your business;
- Expert advice in identifying documents to be interpreted into Easy English;
- Expert advice in interpreting documents into Easy English;
- Expert development of documents into Easy English;
- Quality project management and time management;
- Expert assistance in identifying and completing consumer review of documents.
I will provide you with training and/or consultative services, as appropriate for your business.
I provide value for money in developing functional and accurate Easy English translations.
Download Easy English brochure here.
Access Easy English will provide you with a
personalised service for your business.
Access Easy English will provide:
- Expert advice on how to introduce Easy English to your business;
- Expert advice in identifying documents to be interpreted into Easy English;
- Expert advice in interpreting documents into Easy English;
- Expert development of documents into Easy English;
- Quality project management and time management;
- Expert assistance in identifying and completing consumer review of documents.
I will provide you with training and/or consultative services, as appropriate for your business.
I provide value for money in developing functional and accurate Easy English translations.
Download Easy English brochure here.
Who is Access Easy English?
Access Easy English is owned by Cathy Basterfield.
Cathy Basterfield has a national and international reputation in the development of Easy English.
Cathy is acknowledged by her peers as a highly experienced, skilled practitioner in the field of Easy English. She is also recognised as being at the forefront of the development of Easy English in Australia, being one of the first practitioners in this specialist field. She has been at the forefront of the development of quality standards and benchmarks for Easy English.
Cathy was awarded a Victorian Government Ethel Temby scholarship for an investigative study into international trends and accreditation for Easy English writing and publications in 2011.
Cathy is regularly invited to present at conferences on this subject matter.
Cathy is a trained Speech Pathologist. She has a background of 30 years experience in working with people with Complex Communication Needs.
She has a wide breadth of skills and knowledge in working with people with Complex Communication Needs. Cathy devises functional and meaningful communication for people with little or no speech.
Cathy is a published author in Easy English and the use of Key Word Sign (formerly Makaton).
Registrations and Affiliations
Cathy is registered with
- National Disability Insurance Agency. Further information
- Medicare.
Cathy is a member of
- Speech Pathology Australia. Read more here. Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist.
- AGOSCI. Click here
- ASID Click here
- IASSIDD Click here
- ISAAC Click here
- Key Word Sign Australia – Victoria. Click here
- PLAIN. Click here
Submissions to Government Inquiries.
2018
Federal Government Banking Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry
2017
Australian Government Senate Inquiry. Inquiry into the design, scope, cost-benefit analysis, contracts awarded and implementation associated with the Better Management of the Social Welfare System initiative. Submission 116
Cathy has been invited to present at a public hearing on
27 April, 2017.
2016
Victorian Government Access to Justice review and report. Submission 38
2015
Royal Commission into Family Violence Report. Submission
Current Publications
- Basterfield and Starford (2014) Plain Language for Access to Democracy and Citizenship. Clarity. 72 (2) pp22-25.
- Basterfield (2009 ) Raising awareness of the importance of functional literacy skills. Australian Communication Quarterly Vol. 11 No. 2
- Brownlie, Basterfield and Bloomberg (2006) Let’s Play with Sign
- Easy English. How to comply with the Victorian Government Communication Accessible Guidelines. 2014
- Easy English Writing Style Guide (2005, 2007), Scope.
- Images for Easy English (2008), Scope.
Conference Presentations
2019
2019 Conference Presentations
July 2019
International Association of Forensic Linguistics (IAFL)
Melbourne, Australia
Basterfield, C. Access to written Information: Language and the Legal Process.
August 2019
International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IASSIDD) Glasgow, Scotland
Basterfield, C. What’s in a name? Easy English or Easy Read: Does it matter?
Basterfield, C. Legal Literacy. What do we know?
September 2019
Plain Language Association International (PLAIN) Oslo, Norway
Basterfield, C. Images Everywhere: What Do I use?
November 2019
Australasian Society for Intellectual Disability (ASID) Adelaide, Australia
Basterfield, C. The International Perspective on Easy English and Easy Read: The journey forward.
Cathy can provide you with further specific examples of current publications and conference presentations, upon request. cathy@accesseasyenglish.com.au
Previous Conference Papers and Posters
March 2018.
Better Evidence of Easy English. Better Outcomes. What is the research Saying?
June 2018
National Disability Services Virtual Conference
How to empower clients. Access to NDIS services and other activities.
July 2018
ISAAC Gold Coast
- Why ACCess to Meaningful Written Information is a social equity, social justice issue.
- Use Easy English. AACcess All Areas What is the research saying?
- Marketing on a shoestring – ACCessing Key Word Sign. Poster presentation. – canceled poster
October 2018
National Employment Solutions Gold Coast
Easy English: A critical addition to workplaces.
VALID. Geelong Computers and the Internet
Easy English: Are you Ready to know more about everyday language. Get Set for some AACtion with Key Word Sign with Tarryn Bracken.
Speech Pathology Australia, Sydney
The speech pathology role in health literacy
ASID, Hobart.
Easy English: Functional choices – Everyday words and sentences
IASSID, Bangkok.
Are Vocabulary Choices the Same in Easy English Documents in Different Parts of the world?
2016
1. Melbourne Social Equity Institute – Disability, Equity and Rights Conference. What happens when clients have non-functional literacy? Various papers from the conference or read a summary on Twitter at #socialequity16
2. VALID Having A Say Conference.
Easy English. How to make written information easier to read.
3. Connecting Up. – Advancing towards 2020. Connecting up vulnerable people in our community.
How important is literacy to engaging with our communities?
4. IASSIDD 16 Various papers and Tweets #iassidd16
Health Literacy. What do you really need? – Paper Presentation
Do we take it for granted everyone is connected to and can access the internet? – Poster
5. Clarity 2016.
Paper: Access to written information: A social equity, social justice issue
and
Speed Learning session: Easy English – a case study: Hidden Discrimination.
2014
1. Speech Pathology Australia Conference. May 2014.
Basterfield. “Connections in our Communities. What happens when consumers have non functional literacy?”
2. VALID. Having Your Say Conference, Geelong. February 2014
Basterfield. “Is your organisation accessible? The case for Easy English.”
2013
International PLAIN conference. Vancouver, Canada.
Basterfield, Cathy and Starford, Mark (US).
“Plain Language for Democracy and Engagement”
2012
2nd World Congress on Adult Guardianship.
Guardianship and the United Nations Disabilities Convention: Australian and International Perspectives
Basterfield. Poster – “I don’t understand what it says. What do I do now?”
Basterfield. “Access to information. Everyone’s human right.”