Looking at literature for visually impaired persons
Ghana joins the rest of the world to celebrate International Literacy Day, today, September 8, on the theme: “Reading the Past, Writing the Future.”
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This year’s event celebrates and honours five decades of national and international engagement, efforts and progress made to increase literacy rates around the world. It also addresses current challenges and looks to innovative solutions to further boost literacy in the future and to promote literacy as an instrument to empower individuals, communities and societies.
As we celebrate the beautiful art of writing and the existence of fantastic literary works of all sorts, it is also imperative that we consider access to such works by all sections of the collective society.
Visually impaired and reading challenged persons who are also part of us deem it a right to take part in this appreciation of literary works, but how do we read books or literature we cannot access as we unfortunately find ourselves excluded.
It is estimated that less than one per cent of all published works are accessible to visually impaired and reading challenged persons.
Persons with reading challenges
This means that 99 per cent of all books in libraries, bookshops, school libraries are just out of reach of the nearly 2,000,000 Ghanaian citizens who may have one form of reading or challenge or another.
The Ghana Blind Union, which represents all visually impaired and partially sighted, as well as reading challenged persons in Ghana, would like to take this opportunity to stress the fact that the future of literacy for visually impaired persons is inextricably intertwined with the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty, an international treaty set up to provide unlimited access to published works by visually impaired and reading challenged persons.
This situation is not peculiar to Ghana. Actually, it applies to the nearly 300 million visually impaired and reading challenged persons in various countries throughout the world. Today, progressive nations are taking steps to combat this book famine. However, without the Marrakesh Treaty, this would not be possible, since the treaty directly addresses the book famine in two important ways.
First, it will allow visually impaired and challenged persons, organisations for visually impaired persons, as well as libraries, a legal framework to convert published works into accessible formats such as braille, audio and large print for non-profit distribution. Second, it also allows for the exchange of such materials across the borders of nations that have ratified the treaty. This will help to end the needless and inefficient duplication of efforts.
This wonderful treaty was adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) member states in 2013. The treaty needed 20 countries to ratify in order for it to enter into force and that momentous goal was achieved on June 30 this year when Canada became the 20th country to ratify. The treaty will officially enter into force this month on September 30.
Apart from the fact that Ghana was one of the first nations to sign the document in Marrakesh, Morocco, in 2013, there are other reasons why Ghana should ratify this treaty without further delay.
Benefits
First, the Marrakesh Treaty and the benefits to be deprived greatly support the objectives of the National Inclusive Education policy. This policy inter alia allows visually impaired and reading challenged learners the opportunity to go to school in their own environs. The success of this landmark policy to a large extent depends on the provision of reading materials such as textbooks and other books in appropriate and accessible formats.
The ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty will provide that legal framework to facilitate and enhance the production and availability of such educational reading material.
Second, the Marrakesh Treaty also falls in line with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD), which Ghana signed and subsequently ratified.
Article 9 deals with accessibility, Article 21 specifically deals with access to information. Article 24 also focuses on the right to inclusive education, and finally Article 30 also deals with the right to take part in the arts, culture, sports and leisure.All these articles affirm the right of the individual to information, and the most practical way this can be achieved is when this information is in a format that can be adequately handled by visually impaired and reading challenged persons. This is what the MBT seeks to achieve.
Ghana is also in the process of taking steps to ensure that blind and reading challenged persons can also benefit from this treaty. Last week Cabinet took the first step by approving this historic treaty. The Ghana Blind Union, the Africa Union of the Blind and the World Blind Union and all well-meaning persons are eagerly waiting for Parliament to take the decisive and final step of ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty.
• The writer is the Executive Director, Ghana Blind Union