Improving Access to Works for Visually Impaired Persons

This briefing note provides a contribution to the "Workshop on Copyright - Tackling orphan works and improving access to works for visually impaired persons", which took place at the Legal Affairs Committee's meeting on 10 November 2009. Organisations representing Visually Impaired Persons and publishers have a long standing tradition of working together to improve access to the written word for people suffering a visual impairment. Within the legal framework set by the European legislation, stakeholders undertake initiatives that take advantage of the developments in ICT but have also to face their challenges. Against the background of aiming to mainstream accessibility within content creation and production processes, solutions are provided as access through technology and through trusted intermediaries.