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Computing Advances Allow More Blind to Access Published Works

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International sharing of copyright materials could spur more availability

One of the big problems for blind people always has been the very small number of books, magazines and other printed materials accessible to them. Few books are translated into Braille, the system of raised dots read with the fingers, or issued as audio recordings.

However, this situation has been changing rapidly in recent years as the result of two key developments. Changes to copyright laws in the United States and some other countries allow nonprofit groups to publish works in formats accessible to the blind without seeking permission from the copyright holder or paying royalties.

And advances in computing — especially the widespread availability of text-to-speech technology and the rapid spread of hand-held e-readers — are putting hundreds of thousands of books tantalizingly close to the reach of people with disabilities that prevent them from reading. Together, the two developments, for the first time, are opening the possibility of vastly increased access for disabled people to novels, textbooks and other published materials.

But even as access has increased, organizations for the blind and people with other disabilities that prevent them from turning pages or reading text say it has not gone far enough.

In the United States, the exemption in copyright laws, known as the Chafee amendment, was adopted in 1996. It allows government agencies or nonprofit organizations to publish and distribute works in Braille or audio versions to the disabled without requiring prior approval from the copyright holder. The law is intended to help disabled people without undermining protections against illegal reproduction of copyrighted works for monetary gain. Advocates for the blind praise the law as a model solution.

But there is a problem, they say. Materials published in the United States for the blind under the copyright exemption cannot be shared with disabled people in other countries.

“So we manufacture a book and put it in our collection and here’s the same book that has to be remanufactured in every English-speaking country at great expense,” says George Kerscher, a leading advocate of greater accessibility. Kerscher is secretary-general of the DAISY Consortium, a national group that promotes the distribution of books in a standard digital format, called DAISY, or Digital Accessible Information System.

About 57 countries, most of them developed nations, have some sort of exemption from their copyright laws to benefit the blind. The de facto ban on international exchanges of materials produced this way is especially a problem for the blind in developing countries, said Brad Thomas, a vice president of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, a nonprofit U.S.-based organization. “It’s probably the single biggest problem facing the [blind and disabled] community around the world,” when it comes to access to books, Thomas said.

Negotiations are expected to start shortly on a framework to allow international sharing of these materials. The talks will take place at the World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized United Nations agency in Geneva that oversees international copyright and patent issues. The group celebrates World Intellectual Property Day, April 26.

Negotiations may be difficult. The United States and a number of other countries feel a draft treaty prepared by the World Blind Union and presented by Brazil would go too far in weakening copyright protections. The United States nonetheless “acknowledged there is a problem and said some international consensus should be reached,” according to Justin Hughes, a law professor and senior adviser on intellectual property issues to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Meanwhile, the rapid popularity of e-readers — electronic devices that store books digitally and have a screen on which people can read the text — could revolutionize access for the disabled. That’s because most of the devices have, or soon will have, the capacity to convert the text to speech.

However, the hopes of blind people have been dampened by a controversy over the use of this capability. In the last year, authors, concerned the technology could cut into the sales of recordings of their works, demanded the capability be turned off. Blind and disabled people staged angry demonstrations against the authors and the issue is still not settled.

“It’s a big controversy,” said Kerscher, “but at least we’re talking.”