Leaflet example
Your flu jab
We took a 12-page public leaflet about the flu vaccine and made it into an Easy Message for adults with a learning disability. Here is where we started, and every version we made.
Page 4 of the leaflet. “A learning disability” is the 10th item in a long list of people who should have the vaccine.
The leaflet we started from
The flu vaccination: who should have it and why, from the UK Health Security Agency. It has about 2,700 words over 12 pages, and it is written for everyone: older people, pregnant women, parents and more.
Someone with a learning disability has to find the parts that are about them. The fact that matters most, that the jab is free for them, is easy to miss.
The Easy Message
One idea on each page, read out by the narrator. It asks two questions, and people answer with one tap. Press Play to try it.
What changed
Nobody has to read it
The original leaflet only works for people who can read it well. With an Easy Message, the narrator reads every page and every question of the message out loud, so people who can’t read can still follow it and answer.
The fact that matters comes first
Page 8 says it plainly: “The flu jab is free for people with a learning disability.”
It asks, and it helps
“Have you had your flu jab this winter?” Later: “Do you know how to get your flu jab?” If someone taps Not sure, the next page says: “Ask someone you trust to help you phone your doctor’s surgery.”
Drawings or real-looking pictures
On the web link, each person chooses how they would like to see the pictures. Read more on the Looks page.
Only what this reader needs
We left out the parts for pregnant women, children and employers. Each of those could be a short message of its own.
The video
The same message as a video, for places where a web link does not suit, such as a screen in a waiting room. There are wide and upright versions, with drawings that move or with real-looking pictures. The questions are left out, because a video cannot wait for someone to tap.
Printed copies
Every message also comes as an Easy Read PDF to print: picture on the left, words on the right, a few pages to a sheet. You can have it with drawings or with real-looking pictures.
Have a leaflet like this?
Send it to us. We will write the easy words first and check them with you, then make the message.
This is an example we made to show how Easy Message works. It was not made for or with the UK Health Security Agency or the NHS, and it is not official health advice. Adapted from The flu vaccination: who should have it and why (UK Health Security Agency, 2024). © Crown copyright. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
The real-looking pictures are made by a computer (AI). They are not photos of real people.