Books for All

Last post for today. The latest version of the trial CLA photocopying and licence extends copyright exemption to all disabled students, not just those who are ‘visually impaired’. This has huge implications - here’s why….

Before 1 August 2007, a University could make an ‘Accessible Copy’ (e.g. large print, Braille, digital etc) of copyright textbooks or other material and supply it to any ‘Authorised Person’ (i.e. a student):

“(a) who is blind;
(b) who has an impairment of visual function which cannot be improved, by the use of corrective lenses, to a level that would normally be acceptable for reading without a special level or kind of light;
(c) who is unable, through physical disability, to hold or manipulate a book; or
(d) who is unable, through physical disability, to focus or move his eyes to the extent that would normally be acceptable for reading.”

[s.31F (9) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.]

There are a few conditions, like the University must possess an original copy from which the Accessible Copy is made; you can’t make an Accessible Copy if one exists commercially - you have to buy it; and you’re not allowed to change it beyond what is necessary to make it accessible.

In practice, then, this means that Universities, or students themselves, are able to happily scan in and make accessible versions of textbooks without needing to ask permission from the publisher provided the copies are being made for a student who is “visually impaired”. If you’re a dyslexic student, you’re stuffed (unless you’re also visually impaired and/or have a physical disability).

So the situation was a bit daft, in my view. I, as a University employee, could make a digital version of a book for a student who can’t read because he can’t see very well, but it would be illegal for me to give the same digital copy to a student who is dyslexic (unless I got permission from the rights-holder). Annoying and also makes it unnecessaruly difficult for me to meet obligations under the DDA.

Common sense has now prevailed and from 1 August 2007, the FE / HE photocopying and scanning licence now says that “An Authorised Person is to be regarded as visually impaired or disabled for the purposes of this clause if he would be regarded as a visually impaired person” in accordance with s.31F (9) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or, as appropriate, as a disabled person in accordance with s.1 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.”

i.e. we can now make Accessible Copies for any student who is disabled, not just those who are ‘visually impaired’. A Disability is defined by the DDA as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.

What we now need is for this change to be applied to the CLA Schools Licence as well, so we can make Accessible books for disabled pupils in schools, because at present we can only make stuff for pupils who are ‘visually impaired’ . Watch this space….

Although you can have your ’speech enabled’ SQA Adapted Digital Paper read out by Browsealoud, PDFaloud is better because it can read any PDF - such as prelims, NABs, or other materials you have created yourself in school. Unfortunately, the publishers of PDFaloud (TextHelp Systems) stopped selling PDFaloud last summer and the only way to buy it was to buy Read and Write Gold, which is quite pricy (£320 for a single user; £1795 for a secondary site licence).

After some prodding by me, the good news is that TextHelp and Learning and Teaching Scotland have neotiated a licence scheme for PDFaloud for Scottish schools and I hope that you’ll be able to buy PDFaloud from LTS in a couple of weeks. Cost I’m told will be £275 for a site licence, which is excellent value. When it’s available I’ll let you know.

You can now download 2007 Adapted Past Papers from the Assessment Arrangements section on the SQA web site at http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/14977.html. Papers covering a wide range of levels and subjects are available. The Adapted Papers are ’speech enabled’ so that you listen to them if you have the free Browsealoud software, or you can listen to them using some other text reader program like PDFaloud. The Question and Answer papers have answer boxes so you can type your answers in.

The Adapted past papers are different from the ordinary 2007 past papers which you can download elsewhere on SQA’s site (http://www.sqa.org.uk/pastpapers/findpastpaper.htm). The ordinary papers are not speech-enabled (so Browsealoud won’t read them - although if you have bought e.g. PDFaloud then PDFaloud does read them because PDFaloud can read any PDF) and do not have answer boxes for typing in answers.