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Your signature could help 70 million read |
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By: Dhvani Solani |
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Date:
2010-01-19 |
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Place: Mumbai |
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A humble signature campaign in the city intends to take on a law that prevents the print-impaired from reading. You too can join in and support the cause
Picture this: You are on a lazy weekend getaway with easy access to a hammock, cool lemonade and your favourite book.
This might sound like oh-so common bliss to you, but this scenario is off bounds for over 70 million Indians.
The "print-impaired", or in other words, those who cannot read due to a disability, don't have access to nearly 99% of material printed today.
A campaign is currently on in Mumbai to change the law, and your endorsement could make a difference.
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Dr Sam Taraporevala has a vision. |
"The issue facing a print-impaired person is that when you have a book in standard print, it poses a problem to read," says Dr Sam Taraporevala, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Sociology at St Xavier's College.
Changing the format of a standard book is considered illegal under the Copyright Act of 1957.
The Act does not permit conversion of books into a format that can be accessible for the print-impaired (through Braille, screen readers or a digital talking book format, to name a few).
To counter this issue and make books accessible to all, Dr Taraporevala (also Director of the Xavier's Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged), has launched a signature campaign.
"The advantage technology offers is that if an author or publisher wants to make his work accessible, he can do so in real time."
The campaign, which is part of a global initiative by the World Blind Union (WBU), Sight Savers International and other organisations, is the first of its kind for the city.
It aims at collecting 500 signatures of authors and publishers, who will be directly responsible for bringing about a change. Signing the intent form does not in any way mean that the author is handing over the rights of his book.
"There is a concern among authors about providing an accessible copy of the book, that it might lead to piracy," says Dr Taraporevala.
"I don't condone piracy but it's a reality and this will not add to it significantly. Why allow injustice to prevail because of an artificial fear?"
Three hundred signatures down and 200 more to go, the race is on for the January 22 deadline. But Dr Taraporevala remains unperturbed. "We will do it. I don't know how but I want to believe anything is possible."
Happy to help?
Read up and support the campaign by signing the declaration on www.righttoread.in
If you have a contact of an author/publisher or happen to be one, mail sam@xrcvc.org
| I Support The Right To Read Because⦠|
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Jerry Pinto, Media professional and author
For too long, information has been transmitted largely through the eyes, in the form of words or images. This excludes all those who are differently-abled. This is obviously something that any equitable society would want to correct. Anyone who cares about equality would support this
campaign.
Harsha Bhogle, Cricket commentator and author
While we are moving quickly ahead in many areas, we have such a long way to go in taking care of those with a
disability. I hope every author and publisher in India will sign up one day and make his or her work available.
Deepak Sheth, Publisher, Sheth Publishers
Why should a visually-impaired student be at a disadvantage? By providing e-copies to them, we are not losing out on
substantial revenue. You can't be calculating costs for everything.
Ranjit Hoskote, Poet and art critic
If this project succeeds, there will be a complete renaissance in terms of what's available to the visually impaired. In an insensitive country like ours, it's important to make sure that such issues don't fall off the agenda. | |
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