Copyright Reform in Australia Could Bring Millions of Books to the Blind

A new bill proposed earlier this week in Australia’s parliament could make it much easier for people with disabilities to get access to copyrighted literature. The Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and other Measures) Bill was proposed on Wednesday and, if passed, will make it much easier for people to get copyrighted material in formats such as braille, large print, and DAISY audio.

As The Conversation reports, as it stands, only 5% of books published in Australia are available in the aforementioned formats and the Australian Human Rights Commission has been campaigning for some time to end the “world book famine.” The AHR argues that, as it stands, people with sight issues are missing out on a large portion of culture and knowledge.

As it stands, institutions and organizations can publish literature for those with impaired vision but this requires a lot of time and money. A small number of popular books are available in accessible formats and it’s harder still to get hold of technical books needed for work or study.

The new bill aims to make it a right for people with impaired vision to be able to get hold of literature in an accessible format. A “fair dealing” part of the bill will also allow others to help by easily creating and sharing accessible books. Should the bill pass, things may not change overnight but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Copyright law is complicated and no doubt some companies may resist a copyright reform.