Thoughts on the 'dumbing down' content argument
If you make your content easy to read, you aren’t ‘dumbing down’, you are opening up your information to anyone who wants to read it.
So, this is a good piece. First, it includes some backstory on the Plain English Campaign and an exciting founder rift I didn't know about. But more importantly, it highlights the problem with claiming to write in clear language if you don't test your content with real users. Is it really clear? How do you know?
This is why whenever I run workshops (did I mention I run workshops?), I always introduce plain English alongside the principles of content design. That includes creating content based on user research and evidence. To write clearly, you need to understand who you are writing for and what they want to achieve.