Objective: To carry out an awareness and capacity building conference for disability organisations, policy makers, educational institutions, technology and Web developers, libraries, civil society,  publishers, media and other stakeholders in India on the issue of access to printed materials for persons with reading disabilities.

Challenges in India and other developing countries: Today, print impaired persons in India and other developing countries are faced with several problems that hamper their participation in society: (a)    Lack of availability of affordable technological solutions in English as well as local languages, (b)    Lack of availability of printed materials in formats that can be accessed using these technologies, (c)    Failure on the part of technology and web developers to adhere to principles of universal design which ensure that websites are accessible to persons with disabilities, (d)    Lack of accessible or compatible mainstream technologies to work with special technologies, and (e)    Lack of an enabling legal regime. The biggest challenge of all is the general lack of awareness on the part of various players in the information chain about the need for special attention and action in this regard. Policy makers are still relatively unaware about the presence and impact of this problem for the reading disabled. The ignorance is consequently reflected in the national copyright laws which do not provide adequate protection for the rights of the reading disabled. Publishers are also wary of giving permissions for conversion and distribution and as such there is a chasm between organisations serving the print impaired and the publisher community.

Academic institutions which should be spearheading this campaign for creating accessible content for education are also unaware of the issue. Further, technology and Web developers need to be initiated into the need for creating websites which are accessible and WCAG compliant including giving importance to accessible documents on the Internet and the technology developers should understand the value in creating technologies which can benefit persons with disabilities. Emphasis should be given to creating technologies which are affordable, compatible and interoperable with assistive technologies which are used by persons with disabilities and which can be used for accessing content in different regional languages. Hence, there is an urgent need to create this awareness amongst these stakeholders on the need for accessibility and help to build capacity by organising a national conference on these issues. This meeting would serve as a platform for sharing best practices, identifying common national challenges and working out a common road map for addressing this issue in a phased manner.