Below is an announcement from the government of British Columbia, Canada, concerning their decision to withdraw funding from the production of audiobooks for people who are blind and to rely, instead, on commercially produced audiotapes. Following that, we present a letter which Charlie Crawford sent to the Premier of BC, outlining ACB's position on this matter, and urging that government to reconsider this decision, which will negatively affect the supply of audiobooks for blind people, not only in the province of British Columbia, but across the country.
TORONTO, Jan. 29 -- The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) today expressed its deep regret at the BC government's recent decision to stop funding the BC Library Services audio book program.
The reason given for the cut was that commercial audiobooks are now available to replace the books recorded in the program. However, the vast majority of commercial audiobooks are abridged, and the few that are full-length are costly. "When it comes to library services, we don't expect sighted people to buy books, or read books that are incomplete," said Jim Sanders, President and CEO of the CNIB. "Why would we expect that of people like myself who are blind or visually impaired?"
Only 3-4 percent of what is published ever makes it into an accessible format, such as an audio book. With such a huge gap in access to information, the loss of any further production in Canada is devastating. The CNIB Library and BC Library Services have been sharing titles for 27 years. In 2001, the BC audio book program provided a quarter of the titles added to the CNIB Library's collection. Many of these titles were Canadian content and not available anywhere else.
"Even though I live in Alberta, this hurts me and all other print-disabled Canadians who want original Canadian content in an accessible format," said CNIB client Gerry Chevalier. "I have read many, many audiobooks over the years that were produced by BC Library Services."
"More than 3 million Canadians cannot read print because of a disability. This decision marks the last exit of a Canadian government from the creation of general English-language accessible content. It is regrettable, because all other major industrialized nations fund the production of braille and audio books for people who are blind or visually impaired," said Sanders. "Sighted Canadians have the right to books and information through a local library. However, Canadians who are blind do not have that same right."
The $280,000 annual price tag for the audio book program amounted to only one-hundredth of one percent of the total cuts the BC government made on January 21. ACB Responds
(Below is a copy of an e-mail letter sent to the Premier of British Columbia.)
February 1, 2002
I am writing on behalf of the membership of the American Council of the Blind to urge you to reconsider and cease your closing of the audio books program in British Columbia. We join with our Canadian counterparts in condemning this move to market driven audio books which may or may not survive in sufficient numbers and quality and taste to accommodate the needs of blind Canadians. ACB has encountered this issue in the United States on numerous occasions with less than productive results. While in theory, substituting what appears to be available in the public marketplace for specialized programming makes sense, the blindness community is not large or monolithic enough to attract the kind of attention we require from commercial interests. In the case of your approach, there is to be sure a confluence of interest between what would be attractive to the general public and the blind. Yet, denying blind people with full text of books, as is often the case, or publications not published for the wide market, is in effect telling us what we can and cannot read as well as our not being deserving of reading what is available to all other print readers.
The solution to your economic woes cannot be found at the expense of blind people. The audio books that you rely upon to satisfy the reading needs of blind people will certainly in part accomplish that goal, but the extent to which your reliance excludes materials is the extent to which blind people are not receiving the equity we deserve from a democratic government.
ACB again urges you to reconsider and drop the plan to close the audio books service and to find other means of revenue generation to meet your budgetary needs.
Sincerely,
Charles H. Crawford