Article provided from Link magazine
Disability Advocates Celebrate the End of Australia’s ‘Book Famine’
Disability advocates are celebrating an end to the so-called “book famine”,
which saw the restriction of accessible books to blind, partially sighted and
dyslexic Australians due to copyright law.
On Thursday, the senate passed the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and
Other Measures) Bill removing the final barrier to implementing the Marrakesh
Treaty.
Australia signed the treaty, an international agreement that will help an
estimated 285 million people worldwide have greater access to books published
in accessible formats, in June 2014.
In a move described as “one of the biggest shakeups [of] Australian copyright
law”, the bill will remove restrictions on the ability of Australians to
import legally-produced audio and braille books without the specific
permission of the publishers.
It will also allow local organisations and carers to make their own
accessible copies of copyrighted books.
Vision Australia general manager for advocacy Karen Knight said implementing
the Marrakesh Treaty was vital.
“Lack of information negatively impacts on the ability of a person with print
disability to access education, employment and inclusion outcomes,” Knight
said.
“Currently, only 5 per cent of books worldwide are converted into accessible
formats.”
Knight said the proposed changes in the bill would streamline and simplify
the existing disability framework in the act and reinforce the point that
converting materials into an alternative format was based on the needs of the
individual.
“Vision Australia considers the distinction of individuality essential as it
allows for materials to be reproduced with greater accessibility than those
commercially available which often lack navigation tools,” Knight said.
“The changes will mean we can legitimately reproduce a title into a
structured audio file. As an example, this would give a student convenient
access to the pages and section headings they actually need to read and
learn, but they wouldn’t need to read the textbook from cover to cover.”
Labor shadow minister for disability and carers Senator Carol Brown said
Labor welcomed the implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty.
“Previously, blind and visually impaired people in Australia had been denied
access to many books and other works that were readily available in
accessible forms in other countries,” Brown said.
“It has been a long time coming, but today the government has finally acted
to implement the Marrakesh Treaty – an international agreement which improves
access to thousands of printed works for people with disability under
Copyright Law.
“Today, with the passage of the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and
Other Measures) Bill through the Senate, this so-called ‘book famine’ has
finally ended.”
In a statement Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield said the amendment
would significantly improve access to copyright materials for people with a
vision, hearing or intellectual disability.
He said the bill was also an “important step in bringing Australia’s
copyright laws into the digital age”.
“The legislation will simplify and improve copyright licensing provisions for
the nation’s collecting societies and educational institutions, and allow
educators to use copyright materials more easily in the digital education
environment,” Fifield said.
“Libraries, archives and key cultural institutions will now have greater
flexibility in preserving copyright materials and, by setting a term of
protection for unpublished materials, have greater access to historic and
culturally valuable materials.”
“These important reforms will significantly improve access to copyright
materials for people with a vision, hearing or intellectual disability.”
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