Our Work
On this page, find links to our team’s work on journalism and cognitive accessibility. We include our plain language publications, research, media coverage, and awards.
Our Recent Research
Intellectual Disability and Epistemic Justice in Journalism: Reflections from A Pilot Project, Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (2022)
This article reflects on a pilot project conducted in partnership between a disability studies scholar and several journalistic organizations to produce investigative news that is accessible to and inclusive of sources and readers with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). We situate the project against the theoretical backdrop of epistemic injustice, arguing that access to information is key for shifting public discourse that has historically disenfranchised disabled people. We then summarize the pilot project, which focused on a series of investigative reports about disability services in the southwest United States. The project engaged communities with IDD using three core methods. First, the production of the series itself intentionally centered perspectives of people with IDD in favor of family members, professional caregivers, or other experts, whose perspectives have historically dominated news coverage of disability. Next, the team produced two public events that centered disabled perspectives, including a public storytelling event and an event presenting the investigation’s findings and production in order to solicit feedback from targeted communities. Finally, we provided multiple modes of engagement with the stories themselves, including plain language and Spanish translations, and audio recordings. We close by reflecting on lessons and limitations of this project, as well as next steps in both research and practice. Ultimately, we conclude that cognitive accessibility is necessary but not sufficient, calling for the explicit inclusion of disabled people, particularly people with IDD, in newsrooms and journalistic practices.
Examples of Plain Language in the Media
State of Denial series, ProPublica and the Arizona Daily Star (2020)
In the first plain language experiment by a mainstream news organization in the United States, this investigation on services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Arizona includes plain language translations of stories and editors’ note, audio recordings of plain language and formal language versions, and art produced by artists with IDD at MAKE Studio (who also created our logo!). We also hosted a public storytelling event with storytellers with IDD and a community event after the story was published.
Who from the Plain Truth Project was involved?
Amy Silverman was the lead reporter
Beena Raghavendran was an engagement reporter
Becca Monteleone did the plain language translations and led the storytelling event
Million-Dollar Question, Center for Public Integrity (2022)
This story about community-based services for people with complex needs was translated into plain language.
Who from the Plain Truth Project was involved?
Amy Silverman was the lead reporter
Becca Monteleone did the plain language translations
What Makes Writing More Readable? The Pudding (2022)
In this interactive story, authors Becca Monteleone and Jamie Brew explore how to make writing accessible - and how humans and algorithms think about plain language differently. The whole article toggles between formal and plain language.
Who from the Plain Truth Project was involved?
Becca Monteleone co-wrote the article with Jamie Brew (coded by Michelle McGhee).
How to Vote: A Quick and Easy Guide, ProPublica (2022)
This simple to read guide with words and pictures explains your rights to vote even if you don’t write or speak English. This piece was only published in plain language (no formal language version)/
Who from the Plain Truth Project was involved?
Becca Monteleone created a plain language version from reporter Asia Field’s original draft
LOVE IS ALWAYS: Meaningful Connections for People with IDD, KJZZ (2023)
As part of a story about people with IDD experiencing abuse and neglect, KJZZ hosted a public event featuring people with IDD. The event included a sensory table, organizations from the community, and zine (formal and plain language) with information about the event, the investigation, and resources.
Who from the Plain Truth Project was involved?
Amy Silverman created the event and was the lead reporter of the investigation
Becca Monteleone helped with the plain language zine
Storytelling
WORDSLAW
Amy Silverman started Wordslaw while she was a Visiting Nieman Fellow in the spring of 2021. The idea is to put the stories of people with intellectual disabilities (and other communities we don’t hear from often enough) centerstage through public storytelling events. The goal is to use this work to make journalism better.
Telling It Our Way
Telling It Our Way is a podcast by WGTE media, hosted and produced by Becca Monteleone and Ally Day. In this podcast, we host stories written and performed by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, tackling topics that range from romantic relationships to work life, childhood to grief. These are real stories from the complex, rich lives of real people.
SALUTE Storytellers
A partnership between the Self-Advocates of Lucas Toledo (SALUTE; Lucas County Board of Developmental Disabilities) and Becca Monteleone, the SALUTE Storytellers produce and perform stories of self-advocacy to perform in community spaces. Previous performances have taken place at the Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, and the University of Toledo.