Library and Information Services, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Wednesday 16 April 2008

Accessible formats for learners with special needs

JISC, TechDis and the Publishers Association have collaborated in producing this online resource:-
Here's what they say by way of introduction:-
The guide is for anyone who needs to source text books in an alternative format for a reading impaired learner. This is potentially a complicated area.
Disability law protects disabled learners by requiring the educational institution to make appropriate provision. Copyright law protects publishers from inappropriate copying of textbooks.
Between these two sets of rights are the staff who have to provide alternative formats in a timely manner to disabled learners. In most cases the optimum accessibility solution is to obtain the textbook in electronic format. This allows immediate personalisation of text size, colours and contrast. In addition, electronic text is usually an important intermediate stage for the production of non-text formats such as audio or braille.
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Flickr image from msbellee, with thanks.

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