INSIGHT ‘‘


LL year round local and national NHS library and knowledge specialists across the four home nations share their expertise in this field. Health Literacy Month provides a further opportunity to have more conversations about health literacy with more NHS colleagues, peers in the third sector and carers. It is a good opportunity to remind ourselves to write clearly and in plain English to ensure that we are understood. Almost half the adult population in England have a reading ability at or below level 1, which is the level expected of an average 11 to 14-year-old. Forty three per cent of adults aged 16-65 struggle with text-based health information and that increases to 61 per cent if the information also includes numbers.


A Adult literacy statistics


These are the latest available statistics for adult literacy levels in England (2024), Scotland (2009), Wales (2010) and Northern Ireland (2012). Each nation has a different definition of basic literacy skills, so country comparisons are not possible.


England One in six (18 per cent, or 6.6 million people) adults aged 16 to 65 in England (https://tinyurl.com/22jaabey) have very poor literacy skills.


Scotland


One in four (26.7 per cent, or 931,000 people) adults in Scotland (https://tinyurl.com/3djrw7ss) experience challenges due to their lack of literacy skills.


Wales


One in eight (12 per cent, or 216,000 people) adults in Wales (https://tinyurl.com/ysakew3u) lack basic literacy skills.


Northern Ireland One in five (17.4 per cent, or 256,000 people) adults in Northern Ireland (https://tinyurl.com/bdezw7e4) have very poor literacy skills.


Source: Adult Literacy Rates in the UK – National Literacy Trust (https://tinyurl.com/3phwvp9y).


We can all reflect on and learn how to improve our communication: by not using jargon, by checking that we have


Winter 2025


Good communication does not just depend on the words you use. Non-verbal cues are key to giving the right impression and encouraging people to engage with you.


Morag Clarkson is Co-Chair of the CILIP Disability Network.


Disability Network Conversations about health literacy


October was health literacy awareness month. The World Health Organization defines health literacy as “…the personal charac- teristics and social resources needed for individuals and communities to access, understand, appraise and use information and services to make decisions about health”. You can find more information, definitions and tools to address health literacy in the NHS Health Literacy Toolkit at https://tinyurl.com/HealthLitTK. Everyone can find out more and learn how to help people understand health information better via a free 35 minute e-learning course at www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/healthliteracy.


been understood and by giving short chunks of information. I wonder if we ever also consider ableist language and how it might fall into our patterns of speech?


The Kings Fund has written a great blog about inclusive language and what it looks like in practice (https://tinyurl.com/46m3z747). ‘Ableist’ language, language that discriminates against those with disabilities, marginalises by reducing people to a label and stigmatising disability. Perhaps you have said that someone made a ‘dumb’ choice, turned a ‘blind eye’ to a problem or acted ‘crazy’. Maybe you described someone as ‘psychopathic’ or having a ‘bipolar’ day. Generally, such phrases aren’t intended to hurt. It is more likely that individuals are simply unaware of what they are saying.” (Source: The harmful ableist language you unknowingly use – BBC Worklife https://tinyurl.com/mas2yvpt) Language can be helpful or unhelpful: “a person who self- harms” (helpful), “she’s on the happy pills again (unhelpful). Language is an important part of the Social Model of Disability because language reflects the cultural assumptions and thinking of the society around us. Language is never purely descriptive – it shapes how we see each other, the value we place on different identities, and sometimes how we behave.


Disability Rights UK describe language and the social model of disability:


“In the past, disabled people were described in a way that reflected a negative or medical view of disability. These terms, such as ‘cripples’, ‘handicapped’ and ‘wheelchair bound’ reinforce a negative view of disabled people as powerless ‘victims’ or ‘objects’. However, Social Model language rejects this negative or medical language and replaces it with more positive language. For example, “disabled person”, “wheelchair user” , and “person with learning disabilities”. (www.disabilityrightsuk.org/social-model-disability-language) Good communication does not just depend on the words you


use. Non-verbal cues are key to giving the right impression and encouraging people to engage with you. Importantly, don’t be too precious or too politically correct – being super-sensitive to the right and wrong language and depictions will stop you doing anything. (source: Inclusive language: words to use and avoid when writing about disability – GOV.UK – https://tinyurl. com/45bbe2sp). IP


INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 37


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