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NCAC: Research & Solutions: Policy: Digitization of Textbooks

Digitization of Textbooks

The Role of CAST and Other Organizations Serving Individuals with Disabilities

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The purpose of the National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum is to improve access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities, in accordance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 1997. Every student must have access to what is being taught. Providing access, however, involves much more than merely supplying every student with a textbook. Many textbooks and other teaching materials are inaccessible to students with various disabilities because of physical, sensory, affective or cognitive barriers.

For example, history textbooks provided in standard print format present a barrier for students who are dyslexic and are completely inaccessible to blind students. Technology now allows these textbooks to be accessible to students with disabilities through conversion to digital form. The same material in digital form offers many options for students with disabilities. It can, for instance, be read aloud by a computer or screen reader, or printed on a Braille printer.

Certain school districts currently digitize textbooks. However, not all of them do, and because the work is done at the school district level, duplication exists.

Fortunately, an exception was added to the Copyright Act in 1996 that allows certain agencies to reproduce and distribute materials in accessible formats for individuals with visual disabilities and certain other disabilities (17 U.S.C. §121¹). This opens up a critical role for CAST and other organizations that provide services to individuals with disabilities to digitize and facilitate access to textbooks and other teaching materials, within the provisions of the exception in the Copyright Act.

Digital Text and the Universal Learning Center

The Universal Learning Center (ULC) will offer access to digital curricular materials for students with learning, sensory and physical disabilities by offering resources to help them achieve higher standards in general education classrooms. For more information about the ULC, contact Ada Sullivan at CAST, asullivan@cast.org, 781-245-2212.

For a preview, take a look at the ULC pilot site at www.ulc.cast.org