Easy-read Documents as a Gold Standard for Evaluation of Text Simplification Output

This paper presents initial research into the use of easy-read articles written for people with cognitive disabilities as a gold standard for the evaluation of the output of text simplification systems. We investigate the compliance of the easyread documents available on the Web with guidelines for development of easyread material, as well as their suitability as a gold standard for simple documents for two types of populations in particular: adult readers with autism and readers with mild intellectual disability (MID). The results indicate an overall good level of compliance with the guidelines and suggest that easy-read documents are a suitable resource for evaluation of accessible documents produced for adults with autism or MID.