In Book Week (5 to 9 September) please think about visually impaired persons who cannot just pick up any book and read it. Only 0.5% of available books in South Africa are produced/converted into formats which are accessible to visually impaired readers (such as Braille, audio or Daisy).

The Right to Read Alliance campaigns to ensure that everyone can read the "same book, at the same time, at the same price."

The Right to Read Alliance is an international coalition of 21 organisations, working in partnership with publishers, developers, device manufacturers, retailers, librarians and others to overcome the barriers and realise the potential of digital publishing and other accessible formats. The South African National Council for the Blind passionately partakes in the campaigns because we believe in the alliance’s vision and goals.

The World Health Organisation estimates that 284 million people around the world is visually impaired and can therefore not enjoy standard print. This number excludes people with dyslexia, or other disabilities that makes it difficult to hold a book or turn a page. The education of all blind and partially sighted South African children and students is being affected, by not getting textbooks in a format they can read.

The digital revolution is opening a new chapter in the world of books. Ebooks can give the reader the flexibility to adjust the format to their individual requirements, and ebook reading devices are becoming more sophisticated, with enhanced accessibility features.

Many visually impaired persons are already finding it easier to read the books that they want, in a format that they want, at the same time as everyone else. But there are still technical and procedural barriers across the supply chain. In South Africa ebooks is also not the solution to all people’s reading difficulties as very few visually impaired persons have access to computers and other electronic devices.

Read more about the Books without Borders campaign: and Council’s involvement in the advocacy for the Copyright treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).