Canada to sign treaty to give blind access to books
From bookstores filled with the hottest new bestsellers to libraries packed with resources for research, many Canadians have easy access to an abundance of reading material. Not Diane Bergeron. Bergeron suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that causes severe vision impairment because of the degeneration of cells in the retina. She has spent a lifetime struggling to find reading material in formats she can access.
According to the World Blind Union, only seven per cent of the world’s literature is available in accessible formats, such as braille, audio and large print. The union is an international organization that advocates on behalf of the blind and visually impaired.
The federal government says it will soon be easier for Canadians who face such difficulties finding reading material. Industry Minister James Moore has announced he will table a motion on Wednesday that Canada become the first G7 country to accede to the Marrakesh Treaty, designed to improve access to reading materials for the blind and visually impaired.
The Marrakesh Treaty can come into force as international law once it is ratified by 20 countries.
Jefferson Gilbert, executive director of the Canadian Urban Libraries Council, calls Canada’s decision “wonderful.” Making literature available, he said, is a “question of basic human rights and dignity and equity.”
Bergeron, an executive director at the CNIB, said limited reading material means limited opportunities. She recalled trying to access a book on educating and training the blind while doing research for her master’s thesis. The book’s publisher, she said, told her it was not available in an accessible format.
“How can a blind person or a person with a print disability now compete when it comes to education, when it comes to … applying for scholarships, to doing research for jobs? It’s significant if you can’t access that stuff.”
More than three million Canadians have some kind of disability that makes it impossible or difficult for them to read conventional print, according to the CNIB, which provides services to the blind and visually impaired.
The Marrakesh Treaty is designed to expand opportunities to import and export books in accessible formats and help to reduce production costs for accessible versions of books. Authorized entities within treaty signatories will be able to share an accessible version of a book internationally without having to produce multiple versions due to copyright restrictions.
“Production is expensive and it takes a lot of time,” said Gilbert. “In terms of publishers co-operating and providing digital files in the right formats, you can take the cost of an accessible format book from $3,000 to $200. The next thing you know, you’ve got 15 books instead of one.”
Experts say access to literature for Canadians with print disabilities has improved. April 2014 marked the launch of the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA), which provides public library services for Canadians with print disabilities.
Michael Ciccone, director of CELA, said the CNIB has been working to digitize and update its collection of accessible materials. He pointed to the January launch of the Direct to Player app. Launched by CNIB and CELA, it offers CELA customers a digital library of audiobooks.
Ciccone said such applications are useful in improving access to literature, but that it was important to note that many elderly Canadians with print disabilities are not comfortable using digital technology.
Eight countries have ratified the Marrakesh Treaty, said Penny Hartin, chief executive officer of the World Blind Union, which expects the treaty to come into force later this year. “I think that Canada’s leadership will … create momentum and influence other major countries to ratify the treaty and move forward,” she said.
Other experts, meanwhile, say there is still plenty room for improvement. “The treaty is only the beginning,” Bergeron said. “This is a big step, but it’s the first step.”