Abstract ＆ Presentation :

According to the WHO findings, approximately three to four million people are visually impaired in Bangladesh. A large number of people are also illiterate and low literate who are considered as print disabled. There has been severe lack of accessible information and study materials for students with visual impairment and the group of people who are print disabled. Information rights have not been recognized and adequately met in this case which clearly violates the theme ‘Leave No One Behind’ of Sustainable Development Goals.

Considering the situation, YPSA along with Access to Information program (a2i) of Bangladesh Government with the technical support of WIPO, Accessible Books Consortium and DAISY consortium has produced DAISY Multimedia Talking Book, Accessible E-books, Digital Braille Books for the student of Grade-I to Grade- X which is proved to be much accessible and cost effective.

Providing the same text in an audio version is helpful for producing braille books. Digital talking books are for EVERYONE who needs accessible information & for EVERYONE who loves to READ. Readers can play the audio and simultaneously display and highlight the corresponding text. These digital text books are also uploaded on the online portals.

Today, around 100,000 students with visual, print and learning disability can read and listen to their textbooks which can significantly improve their learning. The government has already been distributing books for free, but everyone can get completely free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes (SDG Target 4.1). School dropouts and also existing students who take longer to learn can now self-teach themselves using these accessible reading materials. This can help ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy (SDG Target 4).