Textbook publisher Macmillan Learning is the first
publisher to gain an ebook accessibility certification from Benetech, a
nonprofit that develops accessible technology.
Benetech launched the Global Certified
Accessible program in 2017. The program evaluates whether ebooks are accessible
to people with reading barriers such as blindness, low vision, dyslexia or
physical disability.
Publishers can certify individual ebooks as
accessible under the program, but Macmillan Learning is the first publisher to
have its ebook production process certified. Benetech will be randomly sampling
books produced through this process each year to ensure its accessibility
standards continue to be met. A news release said that all copyright 2019
Macmillan Learning titles would be certified.
Brad Turner, vice president of education and
literacy for Benetech, said that several other publishers are close to having
production processes certified. Publishers will be able to display the
certification on their website and through retail partners such as VitalSource
-- which recently announced plans to make its catalog searchable by
accessibility features.
Turner said that several states and community
college systems are starting to require independent verification that textbooks
are accessible prior to making large orders. All Benetech-certified content
meets WCAG 2.0 AA+ web-accessibility standards. The company works with publishers
to change their production processes and ensure content is “born accessible,”
said Turner.
“Benetech’s mission is to help people get
access to information. Rather than play catch-up, we decided to go upstream to
the publishers,” he said.
Regards
Mr. Pralhad
Jadhav
Research Scholar (IGNOU)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
Mobile @
9665911593
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