XML file format levels educational playing field for visually impaired

Students who are blind or visually impaired will no longer have to wait six months or longer for accessible textbooks, thanks to a new national file standard. DCLnews reports.

"Thirty years ago, people with disabilities didn't think they could go to college," says Pam King, director of Adaptive Educational Services at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. "Now, they're saying, 'I can go to college and the campus [will] be accessible to me. [Technology is] really leveling the playing field."

For the blind and visually impaired new technology has literally opened up the doors to education. In the past, a person with print disabilities had to rely on someone else to read textbooks to them or wait for a braille translation to be made. Now, technology allows them to listen to a textbook on a computer or read it using refreshable braille (braille pins pop up on a strip on the keyboard, mirroring the text on screen).

Did you know?

The Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act (IDEA) is a federal special education law. Originally passed in 1975, it has been amended several times since. It guarantees children with disabilities access to a free public education, along with appropriate supports and services, such as instruction in braille, orientation and mobility instruction. It also requires textbooks and other instructional materials be made available in accessible formats. The bill passed on November 22nd, 2004, is H.R. 1350, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. On signing the bill President Bush said: “Improving the education for all of America’s school children is one of my highest priorities, and an important part of this effort is improving education for students with disabilities.”

However, despite the huge technological leaps, blind and visually impaired students have had to wait six months or longer for an accessible textbook to be made available to them.

Historic step

This is set to change thanks to a reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act (IDEA) in November last year. The act, signed by the president on December 3, is intended to give students with print disabilities the same access to educational materials as their sighted peers.

"This is a historic step forward to ensuring that all children who are blind and visually impaired receive the education they deserve," says Paul Schroeder of the American Foundation of the Blind (AFB).

Key to the effectiveness of this act is the requirement of a standard format for the production of textbooks in electronic files. This will make conversion into accessible formats such as braille, large print or digital text a good deal faster.

“Not unlike the way Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts revolutionized manufacturing, an accepted standard will revolutionize the preparation of the materials for the blind and visually impaired. It will make it easier to produce materials on an ongoing basis, and will standardize the tools that make use of these materials - such as braille readers and computer and display equipment,” says Mark Gross, president of Data Conversion Laboratory (DCL), a New York-based technology firm involved in the conversion of textbooks into accessible formats.

Reduced costs

The act stipulates that state education agencies and local schools must use this new file format. It also encourages them to demand that publishers from whom they buy textbooks produce their material in these files. Having publishers do this as part of the publication process would reduce costs for education organizations.

Another important requirement of the act is the establishment of a central repository for the storage and distribution of the new standardized files.

“A national file repository would allow publishers, schools and colleges alike to disseminate files to those who need them” says Gross, “and it would also reduce duplication of effort.”

The inclusion of this “one-stop-shop” provision was considered critical by advocates to ensure that teachers spend more time teaching rather than hunting down accessible materials for their students.

Which format do I want?

DAISY, NFF, DTB, NIMAS, Z39.86? And how does it relate to XML? Click here to find out.

Digital Talking Book

The new national file format is based on an ANSI NISO standard and the text portions of it are referred to as Digital Talking Book (DTBook), an XML standard coordinated by the DAISY Consortium and the Library of Congress' National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS). IDEA refers to the XML vocabulary as the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS).

The DAISY Consortium is promoting DAISY XML standards throughout the world and urges publishers to provide materials in the new file format.

“Publishers can help libraries serving persons with disabilities by providing XML files in DTBook or in other XML vocabularies that can be transformed to this rapidly advancing standard,” says George Kerscher, Secretary General for the DAISY Consortium.

Data Conversion Laboratory will be providing conversion to DTBook, beginning in February. It will be available as part of DCL’s Books2Bytes service to all publishers and organizations serving persons with disabilities. Discover more at www.Books2Bytes.com.

"The new service will allow authorized organizations to quickly and easily produce materials without needing to make a capital investment, and without long term commitments - as they can do this one book at a time," says Mark Gross.

DCLnews Editorial