<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//NLM//DTD JATS (Z39.96) Journal Archiving and Interchange DTD v1.0 20120330//EN" "JATS-archivearticle1.dtd">
<article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">1613-0073</issn>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Inclusive by Design: Enhancing Easy-to-Read Content through User-Centric Approaches</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Anne-Kathrin Berg</string-name>
          <email>anne-kathrin.berg@h-da.de</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <string-name>Margot Madina</string-name>
          <email>margot.madina-gonzalez@h-da.de</email>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff0">0</xref>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">1</xref>
        </contrib>
        <aff id="aff0">
          <label>0</label>
          <institution>Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences</institution>
          ,
          <addr-line>Hochschule Darmstadt</addr-line>
        </aff>
        <aff id="aff1">
          <label>1</label>
          <institution>NSG'24: Symposium on on NLP for Social Good (NSG)</institution>
          ,
          <addr-line>25th-26th April, 2024</addr-line>
          ,
          <institution>University of Liverpool</institution>
          ,
          <country country="UK">United Kingdom</country>
        </aff>
      </contrib-group>
      <abstract>
        <p>This paper explores the intersection of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and the principles of Inclusive Design in the creation of Easy-to-Read (E2R) content. While NLP ofers promising avenues for automatically adapting texts into E2R, current approaches often omit critical involvement from the target users. This lack of inclusion can lead to tools that do not fully align with the specific needs of these groups. Through a detailed examination of Disability Theory and Inclusive Design principles, this paper highlights the necessity of integrating target users into the development of NLP tools for E2R. We argue that such an inclusive approach not only enhances the efectiveness of these tools but also ensures that they are genuinely accessible to the people they are designed to assist. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research and development in this field, emphasizing the importance of user-centred design.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group>
        <kwd>Natural Language Processing (NLP)</kwd>
        <kwd>Easy-to-Read (E2R)</kwd>
        <kwd>Inclusive Design</kwd>
        <kwd>disability</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
  <body>
    <sec id="sec-1">
      <title>-</title>
      <p>CEUR
ceur-ws.org</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-2">
      <title>1. Introduction</title>
      <p>
        In the evolving landscape of global communication and information access, the importance of
inclusive and accessible content cannot be overstated. This is particularly crucial for individuals
with cognitive disabilities and those facing literacy challenges. Improving cognitive accessibility
is essential and aligns with the United Nations’ (UN) tenth sustainability goal, which focuses
on reducing inequality both within and between nations. A fundamental aspect of this goal is
ensuring equitable access to information, a resource as vital as any other in our increasingly
interconnected world. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities (CRPD), access to information, knowledge and culture is a fundamental right,
and states should facilitate information in accessible ways [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref1">1</xref>
        ]. The UN stated that 759 million
adults, or 16% of the world’s population, do not possess the basic literacy skills 1. These
literacy issues have been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic’s aftermath. The number of
children struggling with reading skills has escalated alarmingly, rising from 460 million to 584
∗These authors contributed equally.
million 2. This increase underscores the urgency of addressing literacy as a critical component
of educational and social development. Additionally, a 2013 report by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revealed significant fluctuations in adult
literacy proficiency at the most basic levels across OECD countries, ranging from 4.9% to 27.7%
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref2">2</xref>
        ]. The 2015 report by the OECD revealed that even among younger, formally educated
populations, 10% of recent graduates in these countries exhibit weak literacy abilities [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref3">3</xref>
        ]. On
the other hand, around 16% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability; this
estimate is increasing due to population ageing, the rapid spread of chronic diseases, and
improvements in disability measurement methodologies 3 4.
      </p>
      <p>
        One strategy to bridge this accessibility gap is the implementation of Easy-to-Read (E2R)
language formats. The information presented in E2R is intended to be easy to understand,
limiting itself to the basic grammar and vocabulary of a given language. E2R is mainly aimed at
people with cognitive impairments, although there are other target users who can also benefit
from it, namely people with various learning disabilities, neurocognitive disorders, people with
intellectual disabilities, people with auditory disabilities, or people with low literacy [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref4 ref5 ref6">4, 5, 6</xref>
        ].
Immigrants are also considered a target group in some countries, while in others, they are
expected to learn the language without the aid of E2R [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref6">6</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>The process to create E2R texts is very costly in both time and financial resources, as it
involves several steps. This makes it dificult to keep up with time-sensitive materials such as
news texts or regulations. Natural Language Processing (NLP) ofers a promising solution to
these challenges. NLP technologies might be leveraged to create tools and applications that
automatically adapt a given text into E2R. While some initial work in this area shows promise,
these technologies still face limitations. Most existing work in developing E2R tools using NLP
technologies tend to overlook the involvement of target users in the creation process. This paper
delves into the concepts of disability and inclusive design, and emphasizes their importance in
the development of NLP tools for E2R.</p>
      <p>The rest of the paper is structured as follows: section 2 introduces some related work on NLP
for E2R, section 3 deals with the concept of disability, ableism and inclusive design, section 4
presents some Inclusive Design proposals, and section 5 discusses the main conclusions.
2. NLP for E2R
Work has been conducted on various E2R language variants, and multiple solutions have been
proposed.</p>
      <p>
        The rules of Leichte Sprache, the German version of E2R, have been implemented in Acrolinx5
2100 million more children fail basic reading skills because of COVID-19 https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/03/
1088392 (last accessed 05-03-2024)
3Disability https://www.who.int/health-topics/disability#tab=tab_1 (last accessed: 05/03/2024)
4Obtaining detailed and specific global statistics on cognitive and intellectual disabilities is challenging due to
variability in the definition and diagnosis of these conditions, as well as diferences in data collection and reporting
between diferent countries and regions. Often, global reports tend to lump together various forms of disability
without disaggregating them by specific types such as cognitive or intellectual.
5Acrolinx https://www.acrolinx.com (last accessed 12-03-2024)
and LanguageTool6 [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7 ref8">7, 8</xref>
        ]. For Leichte Sprache we can also find the EasyTalk paraphrase generator
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref9">9</xref>
        ]. Some eforts have also been made for Lectura Fácil, the Spanish E2R version. Simplext
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref10">10</xref>
        ]7 is a rule-based prototype for syntactic simplification in Spanish. The ClearText project
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref11">11</xref>
        ]8 is aiming to create a tool that simplifies Spanish texts from the public administration to
make them more accessible to people with mild to moderate cognitive impairment. The FACILE
application seeks to support the Lectura Fácil adaptation of documents in a (semi)-automatic
fashion [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref12">12</xref>
        ]. There is also an automatic lexical simplification service for French, named FrenLyS
[
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref13">13</xref>
        ]. We can also find some multilingual tools such as MUSST [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref14">14</xref>
        ], a rule-based multilingual
syntactic simplification tool, supporting sentence simplification for Spanish, English, and Italian.
On the other hand, SUMM AI 9 is an AI-powered tool aimed at adapting standard text into E2R,
and it is available for both German and English. Capito Digital 10 is another AI-powered tool,
which works for German, English, French (beta version) and Spanish (beta version). It allows
the automatic simplification of a given text in 3 language levels (A1, A2, B1). Sabine Manning
ofers an overview and comparison of the aforementioned tools and others 1112.
      </p>
      <p>
        As discussions about ChatGPT [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref15">15</xref>
        ] continue to spread across various fields, it is worth
considering its potential as a solution to the problem at hand. Experiments have been conducted
for Leichte Sprache, which have shown that ChatGPT-generated texts are simpler than standard
ones, but do not meet the E2R criteria [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref16">16</xref>
        ]. ChatGPT has also been employed for Lectura Fácil.
Results showed that ChatGPT does not stick to E2R rules and that target users prefer the original
E2R version [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref17">17</xref>
        ].
      </p>
      <p>On the other hand, it is also worth highlighting that there are some well-known proofreading
and translation commercial systems such as LanguageTool or DeepL-Write13 that are starting
to ofer adaptations into easier language. These easier variants do not comply with E2R rules.
However, it is a sign that more and more companies are interested in ofering this service, and
that there are probably people out there who are interested in having the option to simplify
text. One thing to bear in mind is that the vast majority of these tools are intended to assist E2R
translators in their task of adapting texts. The outputs need to be post-edited and the layout of
the text needs to be adapted. Therefore, we are still far from being able to ofer a tool that the
target users themselves can use on their own.</p>
      <sec id="sec-2-1">
        <title>2.1. Limitations</title>
        <p>
          One significant issue is the tendency of NLP models like ChatGPT to produce “hallucinations”
[
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref18 ref19 ref20">18, 19, 20</xref>
          ], that is, instances where the generated information might not be real or might difer
6LanguageTool https://languagetool.org/?force_language=1 (last accessed 12-03-2024)
7Simplext http://simplext.taln.upf.edu (last accesed: 08/03/2024)
8ClearText project https://cleartext.gplsi.es (last accessed 08-03-2024)
9SUMM AI https://summ-ai.com/en/ (last accesed: 07/03/2024)
10Capito Digital https://www.capito.eu/en/capitodigital/ (last accessed 14-03-2024)
11Sabine Manning, Multisprech https://multisprech.org (last accessed 14-03-2024)
12Due to space constraints, not all existing tools and resources could be mentioned in this paper. New opportunities
emerge every day, and these are only some of the tools and resources that we considered relevant at the time of
writing this paper. We are not making any quality judgement about any of the tools mentioned here, the claims
we do are based on information presented in their webpages.
13DeepL-Write https://www.deepl.com/write (last accessed 12-03-2024)
from that of the source text. This can be particularly problematic in E2R applications, where
accuracy and clarity are paramount. In E2R contexts, hallucinations have been identified in the
outputs of systems, and they have been considered in checklist evaluation protocols [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref17">17</xref>
          ]. NLP
algorithms can inadvertently perpetuate stereotypes. Since these models are trained on vast
datasets that often contain biased language, there is a risk of reinforcing negative stereotypes,
especially in sensitive contexts like disability. The propagation of stereotypes through NLP can
lead to ableism, a form of discrimination against individuals with disabilities. This is a critical
concern in developing NLP tools for E2R, as it can undermine the inclusivity and respectfulness
of the content. Many studies or projects involving NLP for E2R do not include members of the
target group in their design and testing phases. This omission can lead to solutions that are not
well-suited to their actual needs and preferences. Lastly, it is important to recognize that there
is no universal solution in NLP for E2R. Cognitive disabilities are diverse, and what works well
for one group may not be efective for another. Tailoring NLP solutions to meet diverse needs
is a complex challenge that requires ongoing research and refinement.
        </p>
        <p>Addressing these limitations is crucial for the development of efective, respectful, and inclusive
NLP applications in the E2R domain. It involves not only technical improvements in NLP models
but also a more inclusive approach in design and testing, with active participation from the
target user groups.</p>
      </sec>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-3">
      <title>3. “Disability”</title>
      <p>
        When talking about assistive technologies, it is important to provide a definition of what
“disability” means. The most widespread definition, and the one that comes to mind for many
people, is probably the following: “When it comes to disability, ‘normal’ people are quite willing
to volunteer solutions, present anecdotes, recall from a vast array of films instances they take
for fact [...] disability seems so obvious – a missing limb, blindness, deafness. What could be
simpler to understand?” [
        <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref21">21</xref>
        ] But of course it is not as obvious as Davis ironically points out.
Thanks to (cultural) disability studies, we can look at the topic in a more diferentiated way. In
the context of NLP solutions, it is necessary to reflect as well.
      </p>
      <sec id="sec-3-1">
        <title>3.1. Three diferent models of disability</title>
        <p>The term ‘disability’ may have many diferent meanings and interpretations. In an aim to shed
some light on this matter, we will discuss three diferent types of disability models 14.
• The individual model of disability:</p>
        <p>
          A well-known traditional model of disability is the “individual model” which sees disability
as a medical condition [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref23">23</xref>
          ]. This model deals with the diference between the “abled” and
the “disabled” and people’s “abilities” or “disabilities” in physical, psychological or mental
issues. This individualistic-reductionist aspect of disability is often used and describes
disability as an individual fate and thus as a personal problem. [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref24">24</xref>
          ]. The individual model
of disability is not an approach advocated by Disability Studies [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref22">22</xref>
          ]. This model falls
14Some studies discuss more disability models [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref22">22</xref>
          ], but we focus on these three as they are the most relevant in the
scope of this paper
short and therefore appears to be rather unsuitable for the development of appropriate
assistive technologies.
• The social model of disability:
        </p>
        <p>
          While the first model equates disability only with impairment, the social model makes the
distinction between two categories: “impairment” and “disability”. In this model’s view,
being disabled is due to social circumstances [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref25">25</xref>
          ]. With this, the social model of disability
explicitly speaks out against the first model. “Since its introduction in the late 1970s, the
social model of disability has changed international disability discourses. This model, as
academics and activists with a disability studies background well know, emphasizes that
disability is a social construction” [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref24">24</xref>
          ]. But this model also became criticized, because
the physicality of disability was often excluded and reference was mainly made to the
social barriers. [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref22">22</xref>
          ].
• The cultural model of disability:
        </p>
        <p>
          Anne Waldschmidt sees several advantages in defining another model of disability, namely
the “cultural model of disability” “[...] the cultural model of disability implies a
fundamental change of epistemological perspective since it does not deal with the margin but
rather with the ‘centre’ of society and culture” [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref24">24</xref>
          ]. She defines disability as a discourse
and not only as a given entity or fact [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref24">24</xref>
          ]. With regard to the programming of NLP-based
software solutions, the cultural model might ofer some good food for thought. Both
the individual and social model ofer perspectives for something that is a problem and
therefore needs to be fixed [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref25">25</xref>
          ]. In the individual model, disability is a person’s own
problem due to own limitations and deficits. In the social model, it is a problem of society
or something not being designed in a barrier-free way. The cultural model, however,
does not define disability as “the problem” but rather as a physical diferentiation and
diversity as the norm [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref25">25</xref>
          ]. This cultural perspective allows us to recognize and value
heterogeneity [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref25">25</xref>
          ].
        </p>
        <p>The task of making such cultural techniques more accessible is not trivial and requires not
only technical know-how, but also an open mindset and fewer barriers for ‘experts in their
own field’. However, in many areas of society, people with disabilities are still not suficiently
integrated. We rarely find people with intellectual disabilities in inclusive working groups.
This fact prevents the users’ valuable experiential knowledge from being incorporated into
development processes.</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-3-2">
        <title>3.2. Ableism and Technoableism</title>
        <p>
          International disability studies use the term “ableism” as a concept that is comparable with
sexism or racism. It is also a term that is often used in activist contexts [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref26">26</xref>
          ]. “Ableism is a set
of beliefs, processes and practices that produce – based on abilities one exhibits or values – a
particular understanding of oneself, one’s body and one’s relationship with others of humanity,
other species and the environment, and includes how one is judged by others” [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref27">27</xref>
          ].
        </p>
        <p>
          In technological topics, Ashley Shew uses the term “technoableism”, which opens an
interesting view on NLP developments and ableism issues. “Technoableists usually think they have the
good of disabled people in mind. They do not see how their work reinscribes ableist tropes and
ideas on disabled bodies and minds. As we consider applications of Artificial Intelligence, it
is important to recognize and work against ideas that reimpose and reinforce ableist claptrap
under the guise of empowerment.” [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref28">28</xref>
          ]. What Shew points out is something that we should
always keep in mind when we talk about NLP tools for E2R and accessibility in general. The
tools should be created for the real target users and not for the pre-conceived idea that we have
of them. These presuppositions usually hold stereotypes within themselves.
        </p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-3-3">
        <title>3.3. Inclusive Design vs. Universal Design</title>
        <p>Over the years, diferent terms and concepts have been used to discuss the creation of products
that are accessible to all audiences. The most well-known and widely used terms today are
Universal Design and Inclusive Design. According to The Center for Universal Design at North
Carolina State University15, Universal Design is “the design of products and environments
to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or
specialized design”. On the other hand, Microsoft describes Inclusive Design as “a methodology,
born out of digital environments, that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity.
Most importantly, this means including and learning from people with a range of perspectives”16.</p>
        <p>
          Therefore, it could be stated that Universal Design leads to a single solution designed to
accommodate as many users as possible; this carries the risk of excluding some individuals.
The definition also emphasises the end goal of a design rather than the process of getting there.
In contrast, Inclusive Design focuses on the design process [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref29">29</xref>
          ]. How you get there is what
makes it inclusive; “designing objects with rather than for excluded users” [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref30">30</xref>
          ].17
        </p>
        <p>Based on this definitions, it can be argued that inclusive design is the way to go when creating
NLP tools for E2R. Nonetheless, these terms are often used interchangeably. Regardless of which
one is used, the development of NLP tools for E2R should involve end-users in its creation, as
experts in their own cause.</p>
      </sec>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-4">
      <title>4. Current Practices and Proposals</title>
      <p>In this section, we explore some projects that have employed Inclusive Design and we propose
practices to be included in the creation of NLP tools for E2R.</p>
      <sec id="sec-4-1">
        <title>4.1. Current Practices</title>
        <p>Although there are currently not many E2R projects using inclusive design, we would like to
mention two of them.</p>
        <p>
          The project AInfach – Das Arbeitsleben vereinfachen mit KI (AIeasy - Simplifying working
life with AI) 18 aims to develop a digital learning program that teaches digital and media skills
15Center for Universal Design https://design.ncsu.edu/research/center-for-universal-design/#:~:text=The%20design%
20of%20products%20and,for%20adaptation%20or%20specialized%20design. (last accessed 12-03-2024)
16Microsoft Inclusive Design https://inclusive.microsoft.design/ (last accessed 12-03-2024)
17A case study proposed by [
          <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref31">31</xref>
          ] exemplifies the diference between these concepts.
18AInfach – Das Arbeitsleben vereinfachen mit KI https://kopfhandundfuss.de/projekte/ainfach/ (last accessed
12-032024)
required to use AI applications. In order to do so, they are employing inclusive design and
involving target group members.
        </p>
        <p>Another project that deals with technical reflections and Smart-Home-Solutions is the research
project Intia 19. The question they want to answer is “How can digital technology be developed
as participatively and inclusively as possible with its users?”. Intia also ofers the opportunity
to network and exchange ideas with other Intia users via Facebook, in an aim to help users and
developers stay in contact and share ideas.</p>
      </sec>
      <sec id="sec-4-2">
        <title>4.2. Proposals</title>
        <p>There are numerous recommendations to make products more accessible, as well as
recommendations for specific disabilities. For example, the UK Government provides a list of dos and
don’ts for when creating digital products 20. In the realm of E2R content creation and
adaptation, guidelines focus on the end product’s language, structure, and presentation, ensuring it
meets the criteria that make it accessible and understandable to its intended audience. These
guidelines also provide valuable insights into user testing, that is activities for the verification
of the understanding of the document. However, they do not extend into a detailed framework
for the Inclusive Design process. The W3C highlights the need to include target users in the
E2R content creation process 21. To the best of our knowledge, the idea of Inclusive Design in
NLP tools for E2R has not been deeply explored yet. Recognizing this gap, we aim to present a
set of recommendations that encapsulate good practices in the Inclusive Design process for the
creation of NLP tools for E2R. These practices are informed by a combination of established
guidelines, empirical observations, and our own experiences in working with target users.
Our goal is to ofer a more holistic approach, one that not only addresses the final output but
also enriches the process of getting there, ensuring that the creation and adaptation of E2R
materials are as accessible and inclusive as the materials themselves. This approach is crucial in
fostering an environment where both content creators and end-users are equally considered
and supported.</p>
        <p>• Inclusive Design: including target users in the development phase of NLP tools for E2R
texts and conducting discussion sessions with them (refer to 4.2).
• Interdisciplinary team: collaborating with a team that includes not only E2R content
creators but also other professionals such as accessibility experts.
• Training for developers and UX designers: training the developers and UX designers
in the principles of E2R and already existing resources.
• Sensitization for developers and UX designers from the target users: sensitizing the
developers and UX designers on ableism and technoableism. The end-users themselves
could be referents or co-referents in the training, as they provide very valuable insights
of the challenges they face and their needs.
19Intia https://intia.de/ueber/plattform (last accessed 12-03-2024)
20Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/02/
dos-and-donts-on-designing-for-accessibility/ (last accessed 12-03-2024)
21Making Content Usable for People with Cognitive and Learning Disabilities https://www.w3.org/TR/coga-usable/
#working-with-users-with-cognitive-and-learning-disabilities (last accessed 12-03-2024)
• Accessible content creation tools: content creation tools should be intuitive and require
minimal technical expertise. This allows creators who are not coders or developers to
easily produce and modify materials.
• Multiple formats: ofering materials in various formats (digital, print, audio) to cater
to diferent user preferences and needs. Some users may have multiple disabilities, and
therefore may not be able to access all formats.</p>
        <p>As it has been mentioned, it is usual to conduct user testing for E2R text. That is, target
users read the final output written in E2R and provide opinions on that. Even though general
information on how to conduct them is provided in some standards, we believe there are some
ideas that we can provide:
• Tailored content: testing content that is interesting for the user groups, so that you
keep their interest. For example, if a user is interested in sports, it is more likely that they
are going to be willing to read something related to that topic, and not e.g. politics.
• Relevant examples: when using examples, make sure that users can relate to them.
• Discussion sessions: when conducting the user testing, it is important to collect all ideas,
even if they are not explicitly related to text understanding, Target users might provide
ideas on pictures, layout, the need for more context, or multimodal implementations,
among others.</p>
        <p>In addition to everything mentioned so far, we believe that collaboration between
professionals is essential to advance the field of NLP for E2R. Although there is not anything similar
to a centralized webpage yet, the idea to create a platform where practical approaches can be
presented and where discussions, seminar concepts or course models could easily be found has
been discussed 22.</p>
      </sec>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-5">
      <title>5. Conclusion</title>
      <p>This paper highlights the pivotal role of Inclusive Design in the creation and adaptation of E2R
content. Although specific guidelines provide a foundation for addressing some specific needs
and provide rules to create E2R content, little information is provided on how Inclusive Design
methodologies for E2R. While we acknowledge the complexities in the E2R content creation
process, we believe that adopting a methodology that prioritizes user engagement and feedback
can help navigate these complexities more efectively.</p>
      <p>The potential of emerging NLP tools that automatize or ease the creation process of E2R is
noteworthy. Despite their current limitations, these technological advancements ofer significant
potential for helping to create more accessible content. However, it is important to remember
the purpose and audience of these materials. As we embrace these technological advances, our
focus should remain steadfast on the individuals for whom these materials are created, ensuring
that their needs and preferences are at the forefront of all development eforts.
22Standpunkt∙papier zur Tagung „Expert:innen in eigener Sache in Forschung, Lehre und beruflicher
Bildung” https://www.ph-heidelberg.de/fileadmin/sonstiges/Tagungen/AW-ZIB-Tagung_2023/Standpunktpapier_
20240125.pdf (last accessed 12-03-2024)</p>
      <p>Looking ahead, there is ample opportunity for further research and development in this
area. Expanding the scope of inclusive design in E2R content creation holds the potential to
not only improve the quality of these materials but also to contribute significantly to a more
inclusive, accessible, and informed society. As such, we call upon content creators, developers,
UX designers, educators, and researchers to embrace these principles in their work. In doing
so, they will not only enhance the quality and usability of their materials but also champion a
more equitable approach to information accessibility.</p>
    </sec>
    <sec id="sec-6">
      <title>Ethics Statement</title>
      <p>Our primary aim in this paper has been to promote understanding and inclusivity. The
terminology employed throughout the article is purely descriptive, free of any value judgements,
and based on the aim of promoting comprehension for a wide audience. If any aspect of our
discussion or the terminology used appears to have unintended connotations, we sincerely
apologise.
learning, and inclusive design combat inaccessibility and ableism, J. Open Access L. 9
(2021) 1.</p>
    </sec>
  </body>
  <back>
    <ref-list>
      <ref id="ref1">
        <mixed-citation>
          [1]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>United</given-names>
            <surname>Nations</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities of the United Nations (CRPD</article-title>
          ),
          <year>2006</year>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref2">
        <mixed-citation>
          [2]
          <string-name>
            <surname>OECD</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <source>OECD Skills Outlook</source>
          <year>2013</year>
          ,
          <year>2013</year>
          . URL: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/content/ publication/9789264204256-en. doi:https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1787/ 9789264204256- en.
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref3">
        <mixed-citation>
          [3]
          <string-name>
            <surname>OECD</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <source>OECD Skills Outlook</source>
          <year>2015</year>
          ,
          <year>2015</year>
          . URL: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/content/ publication/9789264234178-en. doi:https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1787/ 9789264234178- en.
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref4">
        <mixed-citation>
          [4]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>U.</given-names>
            <surname>Bredel</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Maaß</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Leichte Sprache: Theoretische Grundlagen?
          <article-title>Orientierung für die Praxis</article-title>
          ,
          <source>Bibliographisches Institut GmbH</source>
          ,
          <year>2016</year>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref5">
        <mixed-citation>
          [5]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>S.</given-names>
            <surname>Hansen-Schirra</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Maaß</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Easy Language,
          <article-title>Plain Language, Easy Language Plus: perspectives on comprehensibility and stigmatisation</article-title>
          ,
          <source>Easy Language Research: Text and User Perspectives</source>
          <volume>2</volume>
          (
          <year>2020</year>
          )
          <fpage>17</fpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref6">
        <mixed-citation>
          [6]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Lindholm</surname>
          </string-name>
          , U. Vanhatalo,
          <source>Handbook of easy languages in Europe, Frank &amp; Timme</source>
          ,
          <year>2021</year>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref7">
        <mixed-citation>
          [7]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Lieske</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Siegel</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Verstehen leicht gemacht,
          <source>Technische Kommunikation</source>
          <volume>1</volume>
          (
          <year>2014</year>
          )
          <fpage>44</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>49</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref8">
        <mixed-citation>
          [8]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Siegel</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Lieske</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Beitrag der Sprachtechnologie zur Barrierefreiheit:
          <article-title>Unterstützung für Leichte Sprache, Zeitschrift für Translationswissenschaft und Fachkommunikation 8 (</article-title>
          <year>2015</year>
          )
          <fpage>40</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>78</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref9">
        <mixed-citation>
          [9]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>I.</given-names>
            <surname>Steinmetz</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>K.</given-names>
            <surname>Harbusch</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>Enabling Fast and Correct Typing in 'Leichte Sprache' (Easy Language)</article-title>
          ,
          <source>in: Proceedings of The Fourth Widening Natural Language Processing Workshop</source>
          ,
          <year>2020</year>
          , pp.
          <fpage>64</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>67</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref10">
        <mixed-citation>
          [10]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>H.</given-names>
            <surname>Saggion</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Marimon</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>D.</given-names>
            <surname>Ferrés</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Simplificación Automática de Textos para la Accesibilidad de Colectivos con Discapacidad:
          <article-title>Experiencias para el Español y el Inglés, IX Jornadas Científicas Internacionales de Inverstigación sobre Personas con Discapacidad (</article-title>
          <year>2015</year>
          ).
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref11">
        <mixed-citation>
          [11]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>P.</given-names>
            <surname>Moreda</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>B.</given-names>
            <surname>Botella</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>I.</given-names>
            <surname>Espinosa-Zaragoza</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>E.</given-names>
            <surname>Lloret</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>T. J.</given-names>
            <surname>Martin</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>P.</given-names>
            <surname>Martínez-Barco</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A. Suárez</given-names>
            <surname>Cueto</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Palomar</surname>
          </string-name>
          , et al.,
          <article-title>CLEAR. TEXT Enhancing the Modernization Public Sector Organizations by Deploying Natural Language Processing to Make Their Digital Content CLEARER to Those with Cognitive Disabilities (</article-title>
          <year>2023</year>
          ).
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref12">
        <mixed-citation>
          [12]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M. C.</given-names>
            <surname>Suárez-Figueroa</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>I.</given-names>
            <surname>Diab</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>E.</given-names>
            <surname>Ruckhaus</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <surname>I. Cano</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>First steps in the development of a support application for easy-to-read adaptation</article-title>
          ,
          <source>Universal Access in the Information Society</source>
          (
          <year>2022</year>
          )
          <fpage>1</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>13</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref13">
        <mixed-citation>
          [13]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>E.</given-names>
            <surname>Rolin</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>Q.</given-names>
            <surname>Langlois</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>P.</given-names>
            <surname>Watrin</surname>
          </string-name>
          , T. François,
          <article-title>FrenLyS: A tool for the automatic simplification of French general language texts</article-title>
          ,
          <source>in: Proceedings of the International Conference on Recent Advances in Natural Language Processing (RANLP</source>
          <year>2021</year>
          ),
          <year>2021</year>
          , pp.
          <fpage>1196</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>1205</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref14">
        <mixed-citation>
          [14]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Scarton</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A. P.</given-names>
            <surname>Aprosio</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>S.</given-names>
            <surname>Tonelli</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>T. M.</given-names>
            <surname>Wanton</surname>
          </string-name>
          , L. Specia,
          <article-title>MUSST: A Multilingual Syntactic Simplification Tool</article-title>
          , in
          <source>: Proceedings of the IJCNLP</source>
          <year>2017</year>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>System</given-names>
            <surname>Demonstrations</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <year>2017</year>
          , pp.
          <fpage>25</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>28</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref15">
        <mixed-citation>
          [15]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>L.</given-names>
            <surname>Ouyang</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>J.</given-names>
            <surname>Wu</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>X.</given-names>
            <surname>Jiang</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>D.</given-names>
            <surname>Almeida</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Wainwright</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>P.</given-names>
            <surname>Mishkin</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Zhang</surname>
          </string-name>
          , S. Agarwal,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>K.</given-names>
            <surname>Slama</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A.</given-names>
            <surname>Ray</surname>
          </string-name>
          , et al.,
          <article-title>Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback</article-title>
          ,
          <source>Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems</source>
          <volume>35</volume>
          (
          <year>2022</year>
          )
          <fpage>27730</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>27744</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref16">
        <mixed-citation>
          [16]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>S.</given-names>
            <surname>Deilen</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>S. H.</given-names>
            <surname>Garrido</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>E.</given-names>
            <surname>Lapshinova-Koltunski</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C.</given-names>
            <surname>Maaß</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>Using ChatGPT as a CAT tool in Easy Language translation</article-title>
          ,
          <source>TSAR</source>
          <year>2023</year>
          (
          <year>2023</year>
          ).
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref17">
        <mixed-citation>
          [17]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Madina</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>I.</given-names>
            <surname>Gonzalez-Dios</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Siegel</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>A Preliminary Study of ChatGPT for Spanish E2R Text Adaptation</article-title>
          , in: LREC-Coling
          <year>2024</year>
          [forthcoming],
          <year>2024</year>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref18">
        <mixed-citation>
          [18]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>V.</given-names>
            <surname>Rawte</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A.</given-names>
            <surname>Sheth</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <surname>A. Das</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>A survey of hallucination in large foundation models</article-title>
          ,
          <source>arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.05922</source>
          (
          <year>2023</year>
          ).
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref19">
        <mixed-citation>
          [19]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>H.</given-names>
            <surname>Ye</surname>
          </string-name>
          , T. Liu,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A.</given-names>
            <surname>Zhang</surname>
          </string-name>
          , W. Hua, W. Jia,
          <article-title>Cognitive mirage: A review of hallucinations in large language models</article-title>
          ,
          <source>arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.06794</source>
          (
          <year>2023</year>
          ).
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref20">
        <mixed-citation>
          [20]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>Y.</given-names>
            <surname>Bang</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>S.</given-names>
            <surname>Cahyawijaya</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>N.</given-names>
            <surname>Lee</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>W.</given-names>
            <surname>Dai</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>D.</given-names>
            <surname>Su</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>B.</given-names>
            <surname>Wilie</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>H.</given-names>
            <surname>Lovenia</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>Z.</given-names>
            <surname>Ji</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>T.</given-names>
            <surname>Yu</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>W.</given-names>
            <surname>Chung</surname>
          </string-name>
          , et al.,
          <article-title>A multitask, multilingual, multimodal evaluation of ChatGPT on reasoning, hallucination, and interactivity</article-title>
          ,
          <source>arXiv preprint arXiv:2302.04023</source>
          (
          <year>2023</year>
          ).
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref21">
        <mixed-citation>
          [21]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>L.</given-names>
            <surname>Davis</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <source>The Disability Studies Reader, Routledge</source>
          ,
          <year>2006</year>
          . URL: https://books.google.de/ books?id=
          <fpage>B84PAQAAMAAJ</fpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref22">
        <mixed-citation>
          [22]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Hirschberg</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>Modelle von Behinderung in den Disability Studies</article-title>
          , in: Handbuch Disability Studies, Springer,
          <year>2022</year>
          , pp.
          <fpage>93</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>108</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref23">
        <mixed-citation>
          [23]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>D.</given-names>
            <surname>Goodley</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Dis/ability studies:
          <article-title>Theorising disablism and ableism</article-title>
          , Routledge,
          <year>2014</year>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref24">
        <mixed-citation>
          [24]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A.</given-names>
            <surname>Waldschmidt</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>H.</given-names>
            <surname>Berressem</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Ingwersen</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <surname>Culture-</surname>
          </string-name>
          Theory-Disability, Bielefeld: Transcript (
          <year>2017</year>
          ).
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref25">
        <mixed-citation>
          [25]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A.</given-names>
            <surname>Waldschmidt</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>Brauchen die Disability Studies ein „kulturelles Modell”von Behinderung, Nichts über uns-ohne uns (</article-title>
          <year>2006</year>
          )
          <fpage>83</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>96</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref26">
        <mixed-citation>
          [26]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A.</given-names>
            <surname>Waldschmidt</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>M.</given-names>
            <surname>Schillmeier</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Theorieansätze in den Disability Studies, in: Handbuch Disability Studies, Springer,
          <year>2022</year>
          , pp.
          <fpage>73</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>91</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref27">
        <mixed-citation>
          [27]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>G.</given-names>
            <surname>Wolbring</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <source>The politics of ableism, Development</source>
          <volume>51</volume>
          (
          <year>2008</year>
          )
          <fpage>252</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>258</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref28">
        <mixed-citation>
          [28]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>A.</given-names>
            <surname>Shew</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Ableism, technoableism, and
          <string-name>
            <surname>future</surname>
            <given-names>AI</given-names>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <source>IEEE Technology and Society Magazine</source>
          <volume>39</volume>
          (
          <year>2020</year>
          )
          <fpage>40</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>85</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref29">
        <mixed-citation>
          [29]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>V. M.</given-names>
            <surname>Patrick</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <string-name>
            <given-names>C. R.</given-names>
            <surname>Hollenbeck</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>Designing for all: Consumer response to Inclusive Design</article-title>
          ,
          <source>Journal of consumer psychology 31</source>
          (
          <year>2021</year>
          )
          <fpage>360</fpage>
          -
          <lpage>381</lpage>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref30">
        <mixed-citation>
          [30]
          <string-name>
            <given-names>K.</given-names>
            <surname>Holmes</surname>
          </string-name>
          , Mismatch: How inclusion shapes design, Mit Press,
          <year>2020</year>
          .
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
      <ref id="ref31">
        <mixed-citation>
          [31]
          <string-name>
            <surname>J. L. O'Neill</surname>
          </string-name>
          ,
          <article-title>Accessibility for all abilities: how universal design, universal design for</article-title>
        </mixed-citation>
      </ref>
    </ref-list>
  </back>
</article>