Chrysella Lagaria at the 19th Thessaloniki International Book Fair (DEBTH). Although she likes books, none of them attracts her with the cover. It’s not about whether the font is good, whether the letters are easier to read, or what marketing strategies publishers are doing to promote them. And that’s because Crisella Lagaria is blind.

In addition to the visually impaired, there are other categories of people with a limited ability to perceive printed information who do not have access to reading. On the occasion of this event, a discussion was held within the framework of the 19th DEBTN on the topic “Accessibility of reading for people with disabilities to perceive printed information. Difficulties and Solutions.

“People with print disabilities, that is, those who are unable to read from printed text, may be blind, have partial vision, dyslexia, difficulty in the upper limbs due to paralysis of the lower limbs, or some amputations. Well, we are talking about people for whom a printed book is something that we take for granted, but even an e-book that seems exotic to us is not a solution,” said Katerina Malacate, writer and vice president of PEN Greece. a literary organization affiliated with the international PEN Club that brings together writers, readers, translators and publishers to create a global literary community.

Reading for Others creates, with the help of volunteers and in consultation with publishers, audiobooks that meet European production standards, while offering them free of charge only to the visually impaired.

“Experience shows that the blind – and not only them – we did not put in the necessary process,” stressed Crisella Lagaria, who, in addition to being a representative of the field of blindness, is also the secretary of I Read for Others. “There are countless posts on Facebook about books that are read by all readers except the blind, who, if lucky, will have 1/4 of these books available either in audio or e-books, or they will have to do a double process – market – and then they have to scan them in a way that is accessible to them,” he explained.

Reading about others

Argyro Spiridakis, founder and president of I Read for Others, explains that “this particular organization was created on the occasion of a discussion about books I had 7-8 years ago with a very good friend who was blind from birth, and I suggested that he read a certain book. He said “a lot, but this is not in the audio library for the blind”, and I was shocked, because before that I thought that all printed books were also printed in Braille.

Dioptra author and marketing director Giannis Pliotas talked about an impending partnership opportunity due to the growing interest in audiobooks in recent years. “It’s worth contacting the big companies that create audio content anyway to understand how to make it easier and free for people with disabilities in a win-win context for everyone,” he stressed.

Disabled students were also mentioned in the discussion, to whom, as the head of the Support Service for Persons with Disabilities (PSD) of the AOUNI Library and Information Center, Maria Lyarou, both at the Aristotle University library and in other libraries with which they cooperate through the AMELiB digital library, reported, which operates under the Association of Greek Academic Libraries, students are given access to the books they have the right to read.

“AMELiB has over 3,700 book titles with over 6,000 available formats. This means that someone can listen to a book, someone can print it in Braille, someone can read it in large print,” he explained and added: “We consider each person with a disability individually, not everyone has the same information needs, so we have to approach them in the right way and recommend them the appropriate tool to help them in their studies.”

Source: RES-IPE