Cheryl Stephens created this display of multimedia art to mark Health Literacy Month and International Plain Language Day.

1. October is Health Literacy Month International Plain Language Day October 13

2. October is big! Health Literacy Month October 1 – 31 Health Literacy Month promotes the importance of understandable health information. Founded by Helen Osborne in 1999. http://www.healthliteracymonth.org/ International Plain Language Day October 13 http://facebook.com/internationalplainlanguageday

3. What is Health Literacy? The movement for Health Literacy tackles the problem of poor communication that affects health and well-being. Health providers are part of the problem and part of the solution; this is not just about reading abilities of the public. My aim is to emphasize that medical professionals and the health care industry could provide clear, effective communication that patients understand.

4. What is Plain Language? Plain Language as a mode of communication is about more than writing technique, it also adopts: results of scientific research into how the human brain processes information evaluation of the communication through various methods

5. Multimedia Art As a reader advocate I created 6 of the 7 pieces to explore the patient’s perspective of medical language to mark Health Literacy Month. To create these pieces, I used acrylic, paper, crayon, bubble wrap, and glitter.

6. Plain Is Painless I was inspired by new research into cognitive fluency to create the series Plain Is Painless. Written information that is familiar and easy to process is perceived as effortless and pleasing. Detail

7. Plain Is Painless 1

8. Plain Is Painless 2

9. Plain Is Painless 2 Detail

11. Your Language Is a Puzzle to Me Detail Detail

12. Spouting Words Spouting Words was a collaboration between me, Mahala Elliott, and the grocery delivery man. I was making a giant wave that would drown the swimmer. The delivery man saw it and said, “Oh, you’re painting a whale.” Mahala could also see the whale, so she took over and finished the piece.

14. Spouting Words Detail

15. Spouting Words Detail

16. Too Much Information This piece holds fortune cookie slips from the 2011 Health Literacy Conference of the Institute for Healthcare Advancement. Detail

18. Too Much Information Detail Detail

19. Long Ago As professionals go through their training, they learn new skills and a new language. Some of the new words are jargon and some are necessary technical words. But they interfere with communicating with patients.

21. Long ago Details

22. Home Planet The center of this piece was created with melted crayons and glitter. This piece expresses my desire that we remember we are just human. Use human language except when talking to machines.

24. Home Planet - Detail This is my home planet—is it yours? Then, please remember to use friendly, human language.

25. Keep in touch? Cheryl Stephens, email@cherylstephens.com @CherylStephens #iplday http://plainlanguage.com Home http://plainlanguage.com/buildingrapport/ Blog http://LinkedIn.com/PlainLanguageAdvocates http://facebook.com/internationalplainlanguageday Helen Osborne, helen at healthliteracy.com founded Health Literacy Month