Universal Access to Alternate Media

This paper discusses the need for automated alternate media solutions in a world of increasing mainstream inclusion. While society as a whole is shifting from educational, vocational and social segregation of people with disabilities towards inclusion and equal rights, the need to support the blind, partially sighted, dyslexic and other print impaired with textual material in alternate formats remains. Production of alternate media is non-trivial and subject to significant skills and technical proficiency. However, the shift towards mainstream inclusion also means distribution, dilution and erosion of competencies, practices and experience involved in producing alternate media. RoboBraille, an alternate media conversion service, has attempted to distil the competencies and experience of producing alternate media into a set of automated workflows. While emerging digital media and technical platforms should make it easier to obtain alternate versions of mainstream publications, a number of counterproductive measures work in the opposite direction.