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Commercial Availability: The Poison Pill for Marrakesh Treaty Implementation

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

Libraries for people who are blind or dyslexic are the primary source of accessible books in audio, large print or braille. But, some companies want to empty the library shelves and insist that only books that can’t be purchased are allowed to be stocked in such libraries. Bookshare was created under the Section 121 U.S.

Copyright 100
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Donor Spotlight: Lavelle Fund for the Blind

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

Twelve years ago, the Fund made its first grant to Benetech, in support of the then newly launched Bookshare , our accessible online library for people with disabilities that get in the way of reading print, including visual impairments and dyslexia. Even in the United States, this was true of probably a quarter of our student users.

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Big Meeting on the Treaty this Week!

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

As the operators of Bookshare in the USA, which was made possible through a great exception in our copyright law here, we would love to make all of our books available to people with qualifying disabilities around the world. We expect that many of the big issues with the current text will get ironed out this week. For what am I advocating?

Copyright 158
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Bringing Millions of Books to Billions of People: Making the Book Truly Accessible

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

With a press of a virtual button, an ebook can be printed, displayed in large print (on a page or on a display), made into braille (on a page or on an electronic braille display), or read aloud as audio. By this, I am not just talking about the publishing business, but also the nonprofit libraries committed to universal accessibility.

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On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by Radical Braille Advocates

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

Betsy Beaumon I recently had the honor to speak at the first-ever Braille Summit , hosted on June 19-21, 2013 by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and Perkins School for the Blind. federal law supports braille instruction. Accordingly, U.S.

Literacy 208
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Accessible eBooks for Equal Opportunity

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

In the United States, there are all too many students like Kevin, who are denied equal opportunity to engage in the same curriculum as their peers without disabilities. In 2004, the United States passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act , requiring schools to provide special education services to eligible students.

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Benetech: the Equilibrium Change Machine

Beneblog: Technology Meets Society

Before Benetech was founded, blind people were read to either in person by a family member, volunteer, or paid reader, or via audio cassette tape. Third, we pioneered a novel interpretation of the copyright exception for serving people with disabilities that is built into the basic law of the United States. Fast forward to today.

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