Publishing for the Visually Impaired

"The mission of anyone providing or researching into the provision of hard or soft copy reading and information access for blind people ought to be concentrating their efforts on minimizing the ways in which blind people have to be seen as different. It is difficult to explain in words exactly what that means. It is rather a question of adapting the right sort of attitude to service provision. A good deal of lateral thinking is needed in order to take concepts from the sighted world and translate them effectively into service for the visually handicapped."

John J Godhes Tactile Pictures, RNIB, 1998

Foreword:
This essay is typed in Helvetica, according to RNIB directives concerning clear print guidelines.

Some definitions:
- The term "visually impaired", refers to both blind and low vision individuals. I have sometimes abbreviated this to "VI" or "VIP". However direct quotes or close paraphrase retain the terminology of the contributor. - The term "print disabled" refers to people whose access to print is lessened for whatever reason, be it visual, physical or perceptual impairment. -The term "black print" refers to ordinary, non-tactile print.

I have chosen to insert the various interviews and questionnaires in the main bulk of the dissertation as I consider the information to be usually both relevant and essential to a particular chapter.

THANKS I wish to thank my supervisor Mr. Richard Drew, for his help and support throughout this dissertation. My thanks also to everyone who took the time to answer my questions and to the associations who provided me with the information I needed. These go especially to the Charles Gainsford and the personnel of the Research Library at the RNIB (London), to Philippe Claudet of "Les doigts qui rêvent" publishing house (Dijon), Marion Ripley of ClearVision association (London), Nathalie Leroux of the ANPEA (Paris), Diane Allen of Magna Large Print Books, Peter Jones of LRSprint, Liz Paulson of the SpeaksVolumes project and Margaret McPherson of the Student Disability Office, University of Stirling

CONTENTS
Introduction :
-The importance of books for the visually impaired population
-The wide diversity of the adapted book industry
-Developments and difficulties of the adapted book sector
I. Blindness and Visual Impairment - some facts
I.1 Visual impairment throughout the world
I.2 Partial sight and blindness
I.3 Access to literacy: Different book formats available
II. Adaptive Publishing: A Diverse Sector
II.1 Embossed Formats: Braille and Moon
II.1.1) Publishing for the visually impaired before and after Braille
II.1.2) Reading Braille
II.1.3) The production of Braille
II.1.4) The Moon system
II.1.5) Production and distribution difficulties
II.1.6) Possible solutions
II.1.7) The future of Braille
II.2 Tactile books for children
II.2.1) The production of tactile books
II.2.2) The needs of visually impaired children
II.2.3) Some tactile book publishers
II.2.4) Projects
II.2.5) Difficulties and limitations of tactile book publishing
II.2.6) Tactile diagrams and illustrations
II.2.7) Solutions proposed
(Interview with ANPEA association)
(Interview with ClearVision publishers)
II.3 Large Print
II.3.1) Clear-Print guidelines
II.3.2) Large print – A definition
II.3.3) The Market of large print
II.3.4) Producing large print
II.3.5) The future of large print
(A large print publisher: Magna Large Print)
(Interview with BBC - Audio)
II.4 Audio-book / Spoken-word Publishers
II.4.1) Audio-Books: A mass market or a specific market?
II.4.2) Production and distribution issues
II.4.3) Some audio-book publishers
(Interview with Liz Paulson of Speaks Volumes (NBCS))
II.5 The Electronic Book
II.5.1) Converting Text
II.5.2) Using the Internet
II.5.3) The "Braillenet" project
III. Copyright Issues
III.1 International Copyright law
III.2 The "SEDODEL" project
III.3 Suggested solutions
Interview with Margaret McPherson of the Student Disability Office
LRS large print
IV. The Provision of Adapted books in the Developing World
Russia
Vietnam
Indonesia
Conclusion
Appendix: Equipment used to convert text
Bibliography
Books
Magazines and periodicals
Reports and information sheets
Websites
Contacts: Associations and publishers