Accessible Books Consortium: breaking down barriers to accessibility

• Author: Catherine Jewell
• Position: Communications Division, WIPO
• Pages: 19-24

p. 19WIPO | MAGAZINE

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By Catherine Jewell,

Communications Division, WIPO

Photo: iStockphoto © M arilyn Nieves

Around 90 percent

of those living with

print disabilities

reside in developing

countries.

Improving access

to school books

is a key priority of

the ABC.

Dipendra Manocha h as been blind since child hood. Against all the odds, however,

thanks to a supportive famil y and the encouragement of hi s teachers he made it

through school and went on to study m usic at Delhi Universit y graduating with an

MPhil in 1992. Today, as President of the DAISY Forum, he is helpin g to put into place

a communications and tra ining infrastructure that is transforming the live s of people

living with print disa bilities (e.g. blindness, low vision, dyslexi a) in India and beyond.

Like millions of other students with pr int disabilities, Dipendra faced a seve re shortage

of course books in formats suc h as Braille, large print and audio, which would have

allowed him to study independ ently. He had no choice but to rely on human readers

who were not always as reliable as h e would have liked, sometimes causing him to

miss important de adlines. According to the World Blind U nion (WBU), less than 10

percent of all published materials are available in formats that can be read by people

living with print disa bilities and many of these are available in English alo ne. Only by

ending this global “book f amine” will it be possible to help e nsure that those living

with print disabilitie s will be in a position to lead indep endent and productive lives.

ACCESSIBLE BOOKS

CONSORTIUM:

breaking down barriers to

accessibility