American Expatriate Costa Rica

A bill aims to help visually-impaired people

A bill that would allow visually-impaired people to access and reproduce books and texts without being sanctioned was affirmatively ruled by the Disability Affairs Committee of the Legislative Assembly.

Legislator Óscar Pérez explained that at present, that possibility does not exist because the Copyright Law does not allow to do so.

The legislator indicated that the visually-impaired population has limitations when accessing to published works, although they are necessary for education, professional life, recreation, knowledge and information.

He said that a few years ago the reproduction of books in accessible format was limited to Braille tactic, writing system, but today there are more options, such as audio books, screen readers, printing on macrotypes and Daisy format.

However, he insisted that all conversions currently require the title holders’ authorization to use the works.

crhoy.com