Accessible Publishing Conference November 2023

Join us on November 9th for the UK’s first conference on accessible publishing, organised by RNIB and the DAISY Consortium, hosted by our friends at Google.

Professionals working in publishing, accessibility and disability services are warmly invited to join us for the UK’s first conference on accessible publishing, organised by RNIB and the DAISY Consortium. The event will be held on online and in person (at Google in Central London, numbers limited).

Companies across the publishing supply chain are preparing for the European Accessibility Act which comes into effect in June 2025. This legislation is especially relevant to the UK with £3.1 BN revenue coming from digital, £4.1 BN revenue from exports.

The conference is free to attend. There will be a limited number of places on site.

About the Organizers

RNIB is the leading sight loss charity in the UK. Accessible publishing and reading are in the DNA of the organisation, which was founded in 1868 as the British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind. RNIB’s Library is the largest of its kind in the UK, with over 60,000 items of braille, audio, and digital titles in the collection. RNIB Bookshare partners with over 1,100 publishers to support those who are unable to access print by providing a vast collection of accessible textbooks and materials to support the UK curriculum from early years to adult education.

The DAISY Consortium is the not-for-profit global authority on publishing and reading for people with blindness, low vision, and other print disabilities. Our team of international experts develops standards, tools and best practices that are embraced by the leading technology companies, publishers, and library services. In 2016 Google.org announced the DAISY Consortium as a winner of the Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities.  The grant enabled us to work through the W3C to develop the EPUB accessibility specification. DAISY developed the ACE accessibility checker for EPUB and the accessible publishing knowledge base, the go to tools used by the industry. These specifications and tools are used by all major publishers and distributors as the foundation for the accessible ebook industry worldwide.

Agenda

The informal and interactive event will feature speakers from across the publishing ecosystem including publishers, service providers, distributors, retailers, and technology companies. Industry thought leaders confirmed include Adobe, Amazon, Google, Ingram Content Group, VitalSource and others.

The voice of people with disabilities in the event is central. We will open with Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE who is blind and member of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee; and hear from Anna Tylor, RNIB Chair and past Chair of Dyslexia Action. We will discover from people with print disabilities how they are empowered by accessible publications, well designed reading systems and assistive technologies.