Reading Disabilities and Access to Knowledege

Misc KEI Comments and Notes on Reading Disabilities

Knowledge Ecology Notes on reading disabilities and access to knowledge.

The following are four KEI comments in the Joint LOC/USPTO, Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comments on the Topic of Facilitating Access to Copyrighted Works for the Blind or Other Persons With Disabilities.

April 22, 2009, Manon Ress. Accessible Works, Standards.

April 22, 2009, Malini Aisola and Meredith Filak. Access to Works Published in Foreign Countries.

April 22, 2009, Meredith Filak. Note on Availability of Accessible Versions of 56 Titles Cited by Yochai Benkler in The Wealth of Networks.

April 28, 2009, Judit Rius Sanjuan. Survey on Accessible Books in Spanish-Speaking Countries.

WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and Reading Disabilities

KEI has a web page on the 2008 WBU Treaty Proposal for a Treaty for persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities, including a report from a July 24–25, 2008 WBU/KEI Experts Meeting on a WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and Other Reading Disabled Persons, as well as a number of links to statements in support of the proposal, 2002-2008 comments on this topic at WIPO SCCR, and additional background materials. See also SCCR/18/5 below.

SCCR/18/5. Proposal by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay, Relating to Limitations and Exceptions: Treaty Proposed by the World Blind Union (WBU)

May 28, 2009. James Love. Obama Joins Group to Block Treaty for Blind and Other Reading Disabilities, Huffington Post.

Pescod, Dan, "The 'Right to Read' – Why a WIPO Treaty for Print Disabled People?" KEStudies, Vol. 3 (2009).

For earlier efforts at global norm setting, see the 1982 WIPO and UNESCO Working Group on Exceptions for Access to Protected Works for Visually and Auditory Handicapped Persons