A partially sighted law student at the University of Victoria in British Columbia has filed a complaint against the school and six textbook publishers, reports the Times Colonist, over what he says is a discriminatory procurement system for students who need alternative textbook formats. For students to get an electronic copy of a textbook, they must first purchase the hardcopy and submit their booklist to the university. The university places a request for the alternate-format book to the publisher once the student has given them a booklist for all their courses. It may take up to eight weeks to get the book...

From an email I received from Bookshare: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., a leading publisher serving the professional, consumer, scientific, technical, medical and academic communities worldwide, has agreed to provide Bookshare with digital files of professional and trade titles for their collection. This agreement will broaden the access of people with disabilities to Wiley content.    ...

From the Threepress Consulting blog: Liza and I have long been interested in making ebooks more accessibile. Both Bookworm and Ibis Reader reflect that goal (with limited success—accessibility can almost always be improved). However, our focus has always been on improving the web version of Ibis Reader rather than the installable HTML5 App that many people use on their iPhones, iPads, and (increasingly) Android devices. Some of our users wanted to try out the installable App, which has the benefit of working offline, using Apple’s VoiceOver on their iOS device. Happily, a recent performance update...

From the press release: NFB-NEWSLINE®, a free audible newspaper service for blind and print-disabled people, and the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress (NLS) today announced the launch of an exciting new access method, the NFB-NEWSLINE® NLS DTB Downloader. This breakthrough access method will allow subscribers to easily download their favorite publications to the book cartridges used in the new Digital Talking Book (DTB) players provided to patrons by NLS. Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), said: "NFB-NEWSLINE® has made groundbreaking advances in the past several...

Reading devices help people with strokes, neurological disabilities In the picture are Chrissy Akers (left), a graduate student in speech pathology, and Tina Puglisi-Creegan, a clinical instructor, who are helping Tom Calteux "relearn the reading process with the aid of a Kindle years after having a stroke.  Although he never lost his ability to write, the part of his brain that makes the connection between letters and comprehension was damaged." Harvey Black, writing for the Journal Sentinel, feels that "The Kindle and the iPad are in many ways the face of today's communication technology" and that there's "more to these devices than...

iPads may be great for a number of forms of reading, but it is turning out they also make great assistive devices for the disabled. The Unofficial Apple Weblog has a story about Owen Cain, a boy with a degenerative disease who is finding the iPad is improving his life considerably. Thanks to the iPad and both specialized and general-purpose applications, Cain can read books while barely able to move his fingers. Furthermore, the multi-purpose iPad is considerably less expensive than a lot of single-purpose assistive medical devices, which can cost between $2,000 and $6,000. Not only does the...

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) closed its latest copyright meeting with a two-year work plan to improve access to the print disabled and to identify potential library exceptions in international treaty agreements. The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) will devote several days of discussion at meetings in June and November 2011. This development suggests that WIPO is committed to address the rights of users of information in addition to its long-established emphasis on strengthening copyright and enforcement measures. A commitment to a legal instrument to improve access for the print disabled could come as soon...

From the UN News Centre: In an unprecedented United Nations-supported initiative, people who cannot see and those who have other forms of visual disability will have access to published works through publisher intermediaries who will create accessible formats of publications and share them with specialized libraries. The new arrangement was announced today at the of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) meeting in the Indian capital, New Delhi. It is estimated that only five percent of the world's one million print titles that are published every year are accessible to the some 340 million around the world who are blind, visually...

From the press release: CourseSmart, the world’s largest eTextbook provider, Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC), and AccessText Network (ATN) announced that their collaboration in providing lower-cost eTextbook rentals to postsecondary students with disabilities has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education for $1.1 Million. Over the next two years, the funding will be used to support STudent E-rent Pilot Project (STEPP), an innovative, eTextbook rental program aimed to help improve low-cost access to higher education eTextbooks for all students, including those with print-related disabilities such as blindness or dyslexia. AMAC is an initiative of the University System of...

From The Bookseller: The Publishers Association, The Society of Authors, The Association of Authors Agents and The Right to Read Alliance have released a joint 'recommendation to publishers' to encourage the use of the text-to-speak function on digital devices. The option is sometimes disabled in order to protect the rights of the audio-book publisher. The PA said the recommendation would go some way to offering people with print disabilities the same rights to access e-readers as those without disabilities, and should provide a more equal footing as sales of these devices take off in the UK. The joint statement "recommends that text...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak with Ken Petri, the Director of the Web Accessibility Center at The Ohio State University, about the accessibility of eBooks and eBook readers.  Ken is incredibly knowledgeable on the topic and offered a great deal of information during the interview.  It’s about 25 minutes in length, so I strongly encourage you to download the file before listening due to it’s size.  Ken provided us with a great list of resources for various aspects of eBook accessibility, which are below.  Thanks Ken! NSR offers monthly interviews with librarians, publishers,...

Received the following email from Rhoda. Can anyone help? As editor of Tele-Read, maybe you can help us with a technology request. My friend’s grandson is bright, loves to read, but doesn’t speak and lacks the fine motor skill to turn pages on his iPad book reader. Is there any software or device that could turn the pages for him? Could you also ask if they know of an input device, do they know how a non-technical person would hook the input device to the iPad or computer? ...