Personal Accessible Text Conversion Guide

What options do dyslexic people legally have today?

Let’s face it — although the law is unsatisfactory, it will probably not stop you scanning texts or having them scanned for you, if you need.

1. You can rely on the fair dealing provisions of copyright law;
2. As a librarian you can rely on Library Privilege;
3. You can get permission from the publisher.

How much copying/scanning is fair dealing?

Fair dealing means that you can copy a reasonable amount — but only for non-commercial research or private study — without having to get permission. Non-commercial has been added recently.

There is no legislation on what this means and interpretations vary. A good guide might be what you are allowed to copy under the CLA (Copyright Licensing Agency) Photocopying Licence.

Leeds University Library has paraphrased these more readably:

A certain amount of copying is allowed under “fair dealing” for “non-commercial research or private study”. Since the law does not clearly define the amount of original material that can be copied, the Society of Authors issued guidance in 1965:

1. One article from any one issue of a journal (even if that one article is the whole issue);
2. One chapter or up to 5% (whichever is greater) of a book or similar publication;
3. Up to 10% of a short book of up to 200 pages (Library Association guidelines
4. One poem or short story of up to 10 pages from an anthology, or
5. The report of one case in law reports.

We can argue that “fair dealing” must be extended significantly under human rights legislation or the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) for Reading Impaired people compared with normal readers. As it is not defined in the legislation, you can probably give it your own interpretation and wait for someone to sue you. Which is very unlikely if it’s clearly for someone with a reading impairment. But it would be nice if there was no doubt about it.

Libraries and others acting on behalf of reading impaired people:

There is a discussion of what libraries can do in the MCG/LACA Guidelines on the Changes to Copyright Law. This mentions Library Privilege which covers one article from any one issue of a periodical or a reasonable part of a monographic work or the whole of an unpublished work – still for non-commercial purposes. Library Privilege applies to copies made by a librarian. Self service in a library is covered by the normal fair dealing rules above.

This page gives some sample forms that you could use if you are scanning substantial amounts of a text, to convert it to digital format so that reading impaired people can read it with the help of screen reading software. Ie where you do not feel that you can justify the conversion as fair dealing. If you are regularly converting text with a view to making it available to multiple people (as opposed to just for a single user) you probably work under a Copyright Licencing Agency (CLA) licence.

You can still use Forms A and C below for reading impaired people who are not visually impaired within the meaning of the Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002. This will help you to meet your obligations under the DDA to those dyslexic and other reading impaired people who are not yet covered by the 2002 Act. The extra bureaucracy of asking permission will only take a couple of minutes (although it does add several days delay before you can start work, to give a reasonable time for the publisher to reply). Indeed it adds nothing to the time that you already need by law (paragraph 3 of Sections 31A or 31B) to spend checking if an alternative format version is already available.

Form C takes the approach of assuming permission if the publisher does not reply. Whilst this may not be enough to constitute a water-tight contract, it is surely enough to remove any risk of prosecution for anyone acting in good faith. What publisher would be so foolish as to court the public relations disaster of taking action against someone acting on behalf of people with disabilities and trying to meet their obligations under the DDA?

Form A:

Declaration for a reading impaired person to give to an organisation that is scanning a text for them:

I (name)

(address)

wish you (organisation name)                                                               to scan certain copyright works for me to convert them to digital text. You are acting as my agent under section 31A of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended by Section 1 of the Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002.

I declare that:

1. I have lawful possession of the printed master copy I have supplied for conversion;
2. I have not been able to find a copy in a form that is accessible to me (eg by looking on the Reveal Database at www.revealweb.org.uk/). (You could also email the publishers. Find publishers contact details in the text or at http://www.lights.com/publisher/).
   • Either:
   • I am a “Visually impaired person” within the meaning of the above Act. Either:
     • a) I am blind or;
     • b) I have an impairment of visual function which cannot be improved, by the use of corrective lenses, to a level that would normally be acceptable for reading without a special level or kind of light; or
     • c) I am unable, through physical disability, to hold or manipulate a book; or
     • d) I am unable, through physical disability, to focus or move my eyes* to the extent that would normally be acceptable for reading.
   • or:
   • I am otherwise reading impaired and have asked the publisher for permission.
3. The resulting copy is for my own use only except that:
   • I may pass it on, with the master copy, to another Visually Impaired person who qualifies under the Act. Or
   • I may pass it on, with the master copy, to a person or organisation who intends to make it available to one or more such Visually Impaired Persons.
   • You may cut up the book so that it can be inserted into an automatic sheet feed.
4. Please convert the text for use with:

[ ] DAISY format

[ ] Kurzweil 3000

[ ] TextHELP! Read and Write (.rtf format for Word or other Word Processor)

5. Please supply the result to me:
   

   [ ] via email to: . . . . . . ;

   [ ] on CD;

   [ ] on disk;

   [ ] copied to my thumbdrive.

Signed                                                                      Date                                                       

Visually impaired and visual stress:

* Note. We consider that this clause (d) covers Visual Stress also known as Meares/Irlen syndrome, Scotopic Sensitivity or Asfedia, or many conditions diagnosed by behavioural optometrists (see http://www.babo.co.uk/importance.html ). This shows as an inability for the eyes to make normally synchronised, focussed saccades when reading normal sized print on normal paper or screen. See Peter Irons, Dearlove, P. “Colour, its effects on Saccade and fixation management in serial visual search” (reading) (presentation at the Bangor Dyslexia Conference, 2003) and the work of Qinetic http://www.nature.com/nsu/020402/020402-7.html. If this is the case you will have been diagnosed by a behavioural optometrist, Irlen or similar or a coloured lens/coloured overlay practitioner and prescribed coloured overlays or tinted lenses.

However, we do not consider that clause (d) covers reading impairment that arises purely from phonological decoding difficulties, without separately diagnosed physical visual symptoms. If you only have phonological difficulties it would unfortunately be illegal to convert documents on your behalf without the permission of the publisher.

However, you can easily ask the publisher for permission, as with Form C below. Find publishers contact details in the text or at http://www.lights.com/publisher/

Form B:

Suggested email for you to contact Publishers if you qualify as visually impaired:

Dear

I have a copy of your book (title & author) . . . . . . . . . . .

I need a digital text copy because I am Visually Impaired within the meaning of the UK Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002.

Do you have a digital copy that you can make available to me? Is one available from any other source?

I will only use this for my own purposes and will not pass it on to any one else unless you give me permission to pass it on to similarly reading impaired people.

As I need to read the work very soon, I would be grateful for a reply by . . . . . . . . (date: allow, say, 2 weeks to reply).

Otherwise I shall assume you have nothing available and will go ahead with arranging to scan it, under the terms of the Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002.

Please note that digital copies are only useful if they are:

1. •  DAISY or ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002;
2. •  Accessible (not protected) PDF;
3. •  Microsoft Word; or
4. •  Plain Text;

An unabridged audio copy would also*/would not* be acceptable. (*delete as needed)

Publishing versions such as Quark, are, unfortunately, not useful for conversion into accessible formats.

With thanks in anticipation,

Yours

Form C:

Suggested email for you to contact Publishers if you are reading impaired but do not qualify as visually impaired:

(Date)

Dear

I have a copy of your book (title & author) . . . . . . . . . . .

I need a digital text copy because I have dyslexia or am otherwise reading impaired but I am not Visually Impaired within the meaning of the UK Copyright (Visually Impaired Persons) Act 2002.

An unabridged audio copy would also*/would not* be acceptable. (*delete as needed)

Do you have a digital copy that you can make available to me? Is one available from any other source?

I will only use this for my own purposes and will not pass it on to any one else unless you give me permission to pass it on to similarly reading impaired people.

If you cannot provide me with a digital copy, I need your permission to convert the book into a digital text format which i can read.  For your convenience, I shall assume that I have your permission unless I have your refusal by the date below.

As I need to read the work very soon, I would be grateful for a reply by . . . . . . . . (date: allow, say, 2 weeks to reply).

Please note that digital copies are only useful if they are in one of the following formats:

1. •  DAISY or ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2002;
2. •  Accessible (not protected) PDF;
3. •  Microsoft Word; or
4. •  Plain Text;

Publishing versions such as Quark, are, unfortunately, not useful for conversion into accessible formats.

With thanks in anticipation,

Yours