Conclusion

At the beginning of this essay, I used a quotation by Andrew Leibs to the effect that visually impaired people have the potential to access the whole range of literature available to the sighted reader. This however is often still hindered by many technical, financial and legislative problems, as we have seen. There are wide differences in the problems faced by the adapted book publishing industry, according to the format of books produced and also between different countries. On the whole however, adaptive publishing, whether audio, large print, or Braille was found to function independently of the classical commercial publishing industry. Because of the high costs of production and the limited market, it appears that this sector requires funding from governments and private associations. The problems faced may be of a different nature and extent but most sectors would benefit from greater cooperation between authors, publishers, specialists and associations. One of the main and most immediate issues to be faced are changes in copyright law to take into account the needs of the visually impaired population as well as those other sections of society that would benefit from adapted books.

Appendix:

Some equipment used to convert information To enlarge print: low vision aids, optical aids, CCTV, enlarging photocopiers, Viewscan To transcribe print into Braille: computers, Vincent workstation, Kurzweil reading machine To convert print into speech: tape recorders, compressed speech tape recorders, Kurzweil reading Machine To make diagrams: tactile Minolta, Thermoform To transcribe Braille into print: Braille`n print, Mountbatten Brailler, Eureka, Vincent workstation, Versabraille

Glossary: ASCII: American Standard Code for Information Interchange. A standard set of characters used by computers. There are 128 ASCII characters, which allow adaptive technology to work Blindness: is a substantial and permanent lack of sight. The World Health organization defines profound blindness as the inability to count fingers at a distance of ten feet or less. In the UK, blindness is defined by a level of visual acuity of 3/60 vision, in the better eye with correction, meaning that the person can see the top letter of the optician’s eye chart at a distance of three meters or less. Or that she can see at three meters an object that a fully sighted person will see at a distance of 60 meters. A person may also be registered blind if she can see the top letter at a greater distance but can’t see clearly to the side or up or down. This is called a restricted field of vision, as in, for example, tunnel vision. Braille: A writing system using raised dots in a pattern "cell" which represent the letters of the alphabet. Braille contractions/Grade 1 and grade 2 In Grade II Braille, standard abbreviations are used for certain common words and letter combinations. These have to be learned and in the early stages a child will use grade I, which has no contractions… * Cataract: Condition in which the crystalline lens of the eye loses transparency, either partially or totally, resulting in the loss of visual acuity * CCTV: Closed circuit television special device that electronically enlarges print material on a television screen. The user is usually able to choose black print on a white background, or white print on a black background, as well as to alter the degree of illumination and the amount of magnification. * Field of vision: The space within which an object can be seen while the eye remains fixed upon one central point, including the limits of peripheral or indirect vision * Functional vision: Presence of enough usable vision so that the person has the ability to use sight as a primary channel for learning or living…. Glaucoma: Disease of the eye marked by an increase in intraocular pressure causing organic changes in the optic nerve and defects in the visual field. * Large print: print that is larger than type commonly found in books and magazines. Ordinary print is 6 to 10 points in height, whereas large print ranges from 14 to 18 points or larger. * Low vision aids: Optical devices of various types such as magnifiers, monoculars, lenses, handheld telescopes or prism lenses, which are useful to people with visual impairments * Moon: A raised system of writing based on the letters of the Latin alphabet invented by Doctor Moon. Moon preceded Braille and is now little used. NLB: The National Library for the Blind. Based in Stockport. The main lending library for adapted books in the UK. Partial sight: A person can register in the UK as partially sighted if she can see only the top letter of the eye test chart at a distance of six meters or less. Peripheral vision: Perception of objects, notion or color by any part of the retina, excluding the macula. * RNIB. Royal national Institute for the Blind. The main national organization for Visually Impaired people in the UK and the principal Braille publisher in Europe. Tactile books: Children books with tactile interest, i.e. raised illustrations, thermoformed objects, various textures, usually completed by a story in Braille and/or large print and audiotape. Tunnel vision: A contraction of the visual field to such an extent that only a small area of central visual acuity remains * Soft Braille: an electronic device on which Braille dots are raised in sequence on a metal pad as the reader progresses along the text. * Speech Output/Synthesizer: An artificial voice, which translates written ASII text into artificial voice input * Definitions taken from Jasmine Dawkins : Models of mainstreaming for visually impaired pupils

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Best, Anthony. B: Teaching Children with Visual Impairments, "children with special needs series" Open University press, Philadelphia, 1992 Dawkins, Jasmine: Models of mainstreaming for visually impaired pupils. RNIB, London, 1991 Erhiels Paul: Visual impairment to a degree-library and textbook support services for the blind, visually impaired and print disabled students at Nairobi University-Kenya. UN report. UNESCO, Paris, 1988 Godhes John J. Tactile pictures: Representation for the blind- The unmet needs of Visually impaired people, RNIB, 1998 Hilton, Ron: New ways with diagrams. Thermoformed tactile diagrams. "Science and technology series" RNIB, London,1988 Laflamme, M. La cécité à travers le monde. Communication à la rencontre de pays francophones membres de l`union 1997, mondiale des aveugles, Montreal, 1997 Leibs, Andrew. A Field Guide for the Sight-Impaired Reader. A comprehensive resource for students, teachers and librarians. Greenwood press, Westport, USA,1999

MAGAZINES AND PERIODICALS

"La revue des livres pour enfants", n* 179, bibliotheque la joie par les livres, 1998 "Hands on", NLB Newsletter, issue 15, autumn 99 "Comme les autres", ANPEA, N( 135 - 1st trimester 19998 N( 136 - 2nd trimester 1998 N( 138 - 4th trimester 1998 N( 141 - 3rd trimester 1999

Reports and Information sheets

First European Assembly of the Tactile Book, 1 & 2 of July 1999, Summary and notes of the proceedings Report by Hochimin City Blind Association And by Nguyen Dinh Chieu School Http://146.99.72.69.88/english/regions/sestasia/reports/vietnam.htm Country Report on Braille an Talking book production in Indonesia Http://145.99.72.69.88/english/regions/sestasia/reports/indonesia.htm Establishing Books and text books using volunteers in Russia – Report to charity know how to fund Technical research and development department, RNIB, November 1992 Blindness: The Facts, RNIB, 1998 Clear print guidelines, RNIB, 1998 "Le Valentin Ha(y" 1996, issue 41 (article by J. Bleuze pp. 34-35) David Mann, Copyright Law and the rights of Blind People, RNIB, 1997

WEBSITES

Anpea www.pratique.fr/~anpea RNIB : www.rnib.org.uk . Ulverscroft: [email protected] NLB www.nlbuk.org Magna LPB. Magna-large print.demon.co.uk Chivers Books: [email protected] Isis audio books: [email protected] NBCS (SpeaksVolumes project) http://www.nbcs.org.uk

CONTACTS:

Associations and Publishers ANPEA 12 bis rue de Picpus 75 012 Paris BBC Radio Collection BBC Worldwide Woodlands 80 Wood Lane London W12 OTT Chivers Books Windsor Bridge Road Bath BA 23AX ClearVision Project Linden Lodge School 61 Princess Way London SW19 6JB "SpeaksVolumes project" NBCS House Market Street Highbridge Somerset TA9 3BW National Library for the Blind Far Cromwell rd Bredbury Stockport SK6 256 RNIB : 224 great Portland street London WIN 6AA Magna LPB. Long Preston North Yorkshire BO23 4NO