Pacific Islands and Latin American Countries Promote the Right to Read for Disabled Communities

As part of WIPO's Accessible Books Consortium's efforts to improve access to books for blind, visually impaired, or print disabled people, recent conferences in Australia and Peru discussed the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty and the development of national and trans-national inclusive reading initiatives.

International efforts continue to seek to improve access to books for blind, visually impaired, or print disabled people. Conferences in Australia and Peru focused on the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty and the development of inclusive reading initiatives, which has united advocates from the Pacific Islands and Latin America in their commitment to fostering fair access in education, employment, and personal through accessible materials.

In Sydney, the Right to Read Conference brought together government representatives and disability advocates from nine Pacific nations. The event was supported by WIPO and funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and emphasized adopting the Marrakesh Treaty and creating collaborative networks. Participants explored resources like WIPO's Accessible Books Consortium (ABC), which offers over one million accessible books, and discussed further strategies to develop legal frameworks to ensure easy access for communities with disabilities.

Meanwhile, in Lima, a workshop organised by the Latin American Union of the Blind (ULAC) gathered representatives from 19 countries to address similar challenges in Latin America. Amongst other things, the event discussed the need for better distribution systems, greater digital accessibility, and exchange of accessible books between countries. Despite visible progress, with 70,000 Spanish-language books now available through ABC's Global Book Service, they called for renewed efforts to raise awareness and encourage national-level implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty.

Both events underscored the global importance of accessible books to empower individuals with disabilities. Advocates and leaders from both regions stressed that the right to read is a fundamental human right and communicated their strong commitment for a more inclusive world.

Originally posted by ABC. Read the full articles on the right to read for visually impaired people across Pacific Islands and Latin America.

Coming up: The WIPO ABC International Excellence Awards

The 10^th edition of the WIPO ABC International Excellence Awards will see both a publisher and an initiative recognized for their outstanding leadership and achievements in improving the accessibility of e-books or other digital publications for persons who are blind, have low vision, are dyslexic or have mobility impairments that impact their ability to read the printed word.

Finalists in the publisher category are:

• Book Publishers Association of Alberta (Canada)
• Children's Fun Publishing Co., Ltd. (China)
• Gerbera Ediciones (Argentina)

Shortlisted candidates in the initiative category are:

• Lithuanian Audiosensory Library (Lithuania)
• Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities (Australia and New Zealand)
• UNICEF Accessible Digital Textbooks Initiative (Finland)

About ABC

The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is a public-private partnership led by WIPO that, together with its many partners around the world, has had real impact over the past decade. Since its inception, the ABC Global Book Service catalogue has quadrupled in size to nearly one million titles thanks to the inclusion of the collections of participating authorized entities. ABC delivered a total of 164,000 accessible digital files from the ABC catalogue to persons with print disabilities through its authorized entities in 2023. In addition, through ABC's training and technical assistance partners, almost 20,000 textbooks have been made accessible in over 40 low-income countries, improving access to education for thousands of young people. ABC was established in June 2014 to implement the goals of the Marrakesh Treaty.