From an
e-list posting:
“Personally, I am concerned because it presumes the reader knows the medical term 'COVID-19' on its own. I don't think that's a fair assumption to make for all readers.
I'm trying to persuade some people in my company that it makes more inclusive sense to use either "coronavirus COVID-19" or "coronavirus (COVID-19)" -- but so far it's still just been COVID-19 in some of our public-facing content, where I think really matters.
Am I overthinking it? And if not, are there any recommended best practices principles or research I could refer to bolster or refute my stance? I'm open to being wrong, just would love some general guidance from what others are seeing.”
Thoughts
here? I try to use an plain language term and then the technical term. Is that
enough? I don’t want to dilute science but want to provide an understanding as
they learn the medical term.
A leading social media influencer in health literacy posted this as well:
ReplyDelete"Ditch “novel.” Normally, we might swap “novel” for “new” in plain language materials, but “the new coronavirus” sounds a bit like a shiny new car. And at this point, COVID-19 doesn’t feel so novel anyway. "
https://medium.com/wehearthealthliteracy/what-to-call-the-coronavirus-6e7764f595ef
REALLY!
I’d urge them to think about what they're saying here. Are you sure you’re ready to accept the consequences of gatekeeping the fundamental terms people should be exposed to and learn? How are you not contributing and perpetuating the already enormous divide in access to information we se being played out, once again, in this current complex emergency?