Publisher’s Corner
Technology today has enabled the ‘print disabled’ to expand their horizons far beyond what were traditionally considered within their reach. Accessible technology in the form of the various Screen Readers, Magnifiers, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technologies and many more have made the printed word accessible.
However the ‘illusive’ barriers still continue to exists in what is ‘possible’ for the print disabled to access and what is ‘available’ on the ground. DFI actively works to bridge this gap and fill up the Book Drought that exists in India.
DFI has been on this journey to ensure equitable laws as well as ensure effective ground level mechanisms to implement these laws. DFI has actively lobbied for the Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 to incorporate sections 52 (1) (zb) and 31 B to ensure that in India the Print disabled have equal access to printed works.
In order to realize the above mentioned legal rights enshrined in the said act DFI works actively with the Publishing Community. Technological resources are most efficiently used when readily available electronic copies with publishing houses can be shared with organizational networks such as DFI. This enables saving of time and resources which the DFI would need, to convert material into accessible formats.
DFI has been engaging with strong publisher partnerships since 2007. Some of our leading partners include – Oxford University Press, SAGE Publications, Cambridge University Press, Sheth Publishers, S. Chand & Co Ltd, Zubaan Books, Pratham Books, Himalayan Publishing House, Other India Press, Sahitya Academy, Tata McGraw Hill etc. These Publishing houses with DFI ensure to share content to enable their efficient and speedy availability to print disabled community in accessible formats. You can find out more about what constitutes Accessible Formats and what formats the Publishing houses can share information in the ABC of Inclusive Publishing a XRCVC Mumbai publication. This document also contains frequently asked questions about the new Copyright (Amendment) Act 2012 and its relevance to print access for the print disabled.
The following documents are also helpful in understanding the legal perspectives on print access.
DFI is constantly working at building new partnerships and strengthening the existing ones. If your Publishing house would like to know more about the DFI-Publisher Partnership please contact us.