Still “Destined To Be Under-Read”? Access to Books for Visually Impaired Students in UK Higher Education

Abstract

A questionnaire was circulated to librarians and learning support staff in all 109 UK universities asking how they were dealing with material only available in print, accessing electronic copies of books for print-disabled students and whether they felt a change in the law was required to make publishers take greater responsibility for accessibility issues. At the same time publishers’ policies were retrieved and an interview was conducted with a senior manager at JISC TechDis, the disabilities section of the Joint Information Systems Committee. Findings: While some publishers are going to considerable lengths to be helpful, others are not, and many learning support staff are struggling, either through lack of time or finance or both, to deliver the level of service they aspire to provide. An overwhelming majority of respondents to the questionnaire believe on grounds of cost and morals that there should be a change in the law, either by way of amendment to existing legislation or through the creation of a separate Act.

Appendix

A list of universities who responded to the questionnaire is given below. They are listed by mission group and then in alphabetical order, not in respondent order.

From the 1994 group: Durham, East Anglia, Loughborough, Queen mary, Reading, St. Andrews, Sussex, York.

From the Russell Group: Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, King’s College London, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Queen’s University Belfast, Sheffield, Warwick.

From the University Alliance: Aberystwyth, Bradford, De Montfort, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Manchester Metropolitan, Nottingham Trent, Oxford Brookes, Portsmouth, Sheffield Halham, University of the West of England.

Information on membership of the various mission groups was taken on 10/06/2009 from http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/UKHESector/FAQs/Pages/About-HE-Sector-and-Universities.aspx.

The other universities who responded are, again in alphabetical, not respondent order: Aston, Birmingham City University, Bolton, Brighton, Brunel, Chester, Edgehill, Hull, Leeds Metropolitan, Napier, Northampton, Roehampton, Robert Gordon University of Aberdeen, Sunderland, Strathclyde, Swansea, University of East London, University of Westminster, Worcester.