Accessible digital textbooks initiative
About:
Accessible digital textbooks initiative is making digital textbooks available, affordable and accessible for all learners, with and without disabilities in all contexts. By adapting learning materials following Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and adding specific features to digital formats, textbooks can be made accessible to students who are blind or have low vision, to those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and to those who have intellectual, developmental or learning disabilities, among others.
Enablers / Barriers:
Publishers have been resistant to adapting their materials to accessible formats due in part to concerns for the cost and distribution. This has meant less than 10% of materials have been made available. This has created an opportunity for governments, partners and content creators to create their materials in an accessible way to fill the gap left by traditional publishers. Licensing concerns for content prevent publishers from providing their materials in accessible and alternative formats. ADTs feature heavy content packages to accommodate video and audio and present distribution challenges in low connectivity environments. ADTs require specific technologies to operate and scale that not all users have access to.
Format:
ePub 3, App, HTML, Video
Keywords:
Deaf, Blind, low vision, hard of hearing
Country
Multi Country: Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Nicaragua
Language:
English, KSL (Kenyan Sign Language)