Easy Reading is a free browser plugin that addresses accessibility barriers to digital participation on the Internet through customizable tools. The key difference to previous accessibility tools available on the market is that Easy Reading allows users to adapt non-accessible websites to their own needs. The 14 tools offered include a read aloud function and various options for changing text and page formatting, as well as a reading ruler and the generation of alternative texts, an image search and translation function.

At the 5th LWL Fair of Inclusion Companies on March 15th 2023 in the Dortmund Westfalenhalle many visitors could be inspired of Easy Reading by the project team consisting of researchers of the research unit Rehabilitation Technology and Social Research Center Dortmund. Interested persons had the opportunity to learn more about the project, to get to know Easy Reading, to try it out and to enrich it with their own ideas at the shared booth "Self-determined work through digital assistance" of the LWL. In addition to an exhibition stand, a lot of constructive and interested feedback was collected in the offered workshop "Easy Reading of internet pages for all". The project was presented by Dr. Vanessa Heitplatz and Marie-Christin Lueg in an interview for the blog "Inclusive Working Life" of the LWL and can thus be carried beyond the fair.

As part of the project "EVE4all - Simple Understanding for All" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Easy Reading will be validated in the faculty of rehabilitation sciences and at the Social Research Center Dortmund until July 2024. The project goals are developing target groups and using cases for the software framework, proving its applicability and effectiveness, and developing a model for the sustainable verification of Easy Reading.

More information on Easy Reading to find here; more information on the LWL Fair of Inclusion Companies here.

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