cross-post: ablism rant

[teafeather]

Posted earlier today at my personal account:

It seems I cannot go through my backlog of RSS feeds without encountering at least one smug anti-ebook graphic or text statement. I wonder if anyone who creates or reblogs these sentiments knows or cares how important ebooks have become for people who cannot read standard print books because of a disability.

For many people, disability is not a real thing that affects real people who live everyday lives and want to do things like enjoy stories, keep up with current events and culture, or seek knowledge of things from the past. It's aggravating that people who profess to love books so much have no concept of people who are slightly different from them valuing the same things even though they can't enjoy books in exactly the same format or container.

Books in electronic format help people with many different impairments access written information.

A person with low vision (legally blind but with some usable vision) may require large print in order to read visually. Large print paper books are available, but the title selection is limited, they are very expensive, they go out of print much more quickly than editions with standard size type, and they are much larger, heavier, and more difficult to hold than standard print books. This last part is especially galling for someone with an additional disability that affects arm and hand strength and dexterity if they must hold the book close to their face instead of being able to rest it on their lap or a table top. In addition, paper large print books are often available only in 14 or 16 point type, when many people require 18, 24, or even larger type sizes in order to read comfortably for extended periods of time. With most ebook formats and display devices, fonts can be adjusted to the size needed, and some color screen devices even support high contrast (yellow or white text on a black or navy blue background) which is helpful for many people with low vision.

Braille readers also benefit from ebooks. Braille books are even harder to come by, and even larger than large print books. In most countries, braille books are only available from government-sponsored lending libraries or a handful of nonprofit organizations that serve blind people. A library may have only one copy of a book, and of that copy becomes lost or damaged, a replacement may never be made. My own local braille lending library lost thousands of books a few years ago due to a mold infestation caused by lack of funding for adequate climate-controlled storage facilities. The embossing plates for those books were not kept on hand so those books can't be replaced. Limited copies mean that someone may have years on a waiting list before they get access to a book they want to read. Even if you are first in line, it can take a couple years for a new book to be made available in braille, if it even gets transcribed in the first place. Having access to a digital braille file or a DRM-free ebook that can be displayed on a refreshable braille device means being able to have access to more books, more quickly, and even keeping a personal archive of files of books you've enjoyed. Can any of you print readers imagine only being able to get books from the library and not having the option of buying your own copy to keep? Never getting a book as a gift?

Text-to-speech is another way that ebooks are useful to people with print disabilities, and not just blind people: dyslexia, other learning disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, brain cancer/tumors, epilepsy, paralysis, cerebral palsy, stroke survivors, etc. If you can't see the page, interpret symbols, hold the book, turn the page, etc., you might be able to hear and process synthesized speech to gain access to the same information. Some text-to-speech programs are optimized for specific circumstances, for example programs for people with dyslexia may highlight the word on the screen as the computer reads it out loud, which can improve comprehension over simply hearing the words from the computer or an audio recording of human speech. DAISY, the combined ebook and audiobook format for people with disabilities (and a close relative of EPUB) is especially suited for this purpose.

And, finally, some people who may not be able to hold a print book and turn paper pages may be able to use assistive technology to use desktop, laptop, or tablet computers to read ebooks in that manner.

So before you snark on ebooks, think about who you may be snarking. Since few people reach old age without acquiring a significant disability, you may be short-changing your future self.

Comments

[boundbooks]

My great-grandmother loves her ebook reader because she has bad arthritis and print books were getting too heavy for her to hold, not to mention turning pages was painful. She couldn't read for very long before her ebook reader, but now she's back up to reading a several-hundred page novel a week. :)

[trialia]

That's basically my own situation, though I'm 26. My fingers dislocate when I turn pages too quickly, and I read fast. I've read 120 books so far this year, since having my e-reader.

[tameiki]

*gives a standing ovation*

Before ebooks came along my vision had deteriorated so much that I could no longer read standard print books. If I had the time I could devour a 700 page novel in one day but had to forego reading nearly anything for several years. Then came ebooks. I can download them onto my computer, convert to RTF and adjust font, font size, page background color and I'm back to reading again. My 24" monitor also helps so I can see the text very easily. My ebook reader is also a constant companion along with my computer and laptop.

I also work with people with disabilities of all ages. Many are discovering the joy of reading for the first time simply because they can now see the text. The look of amazement from those who, like me, had to stop reading but can now once again access books is enough to bring tears to my own eyes.

Yes, ebooks are an amazing gift for all ages, not just the elderly :)

[shanaqui]

On a similar note, I was incensed by the comments of a man in Hay-on-Wye, in Britain. He wants to ban Kindles and so on from that literary festival, saying that ebooks are antisocial. I sent him a polite but nonetheless angry email pointing out that without ebooks, my mother and I would no longer be able to share the joy of reading, and that neither of us feel any urge to patronise his shop ever in future until he apologises.

No reply...

[sasha_feather]

Agreed!

[grey853]

I totally agree. One of the best features of ebooks for me is the ability to increase the size of the font so I can read comfortably. It's been a real pleasure to read more again simply because I can actually see the print!!

[akisawana]

Add my mother to the list of people who bought a Kindle because of her impaired vision, and in a few years I'll probably be reading only on my Kindle as well.

[synecdochic]

My ex-girlfriend picked up some spending cash in college reading the textbooks into a tape recorder for a blind fellow student -- the disability services office couldn't source large print/Braille copies of the textbooks, so everything had to be read on tape...

[daraq]

Thank you for a very informative post!

[amadi]

Applauding this post in its entirety. eBooks on her iPad are a boon to my sight-impaired mom, and I'm finding them increasingly positive for me as arthritis in my hands worsens. As a college student, I'd really like it if more textbooks were available in eBook formats, and at a competitive price point, but that seems to be a battle that is going to take a lot of fighting, sadly.

[sauscony]

Bravo! My dad has always had bad vision and has very thick glasses. As he ages, his vision gets worse, so he bought a Nook and loves it. He reads more than anyone else I know and he might have had to give it up if not for e-readers. I wish I could have gotten my mom an e-reader too because her vision had also deteriorated a lot before her death.

Also helpful for dyslexics

[(Anonymous)]

Some people with dyslexia find it very helpful to change the color of the text and background. It turns out that black on white is not good for everyone: some people do better with white on black, or black on yellow. Digital texts allow dyslectics more freedom to play around with the fonts and formats until they find something that is easier for their eyes and brain to process.

As an Israeli publisher, we have formed an alliance with a private initiative here that provides digital texts to subscribers who are blind or visually impaired, or have a condition like dyslexia or autism for which reading from a digital text can be an advantage. The service is provided free of charge, and we give access to our books free of charge. Sadly, we are a very small publishing company, and most publishers in Israel are still wary of allowing such access to their digital files. This should not be a privately funded service: it should have government support, and publishers should be legally obligated to provide digital copies of books to similar services, under handicap accessibility laws.

a few more issues with old school books.

[pixelfish]

Don't forget allergies. I have a huge dust and mold allergy and a huge (but rapidly shrinking) hard copy book collection. We hope to be able to reduce the hard copy books to certain types of books (out-of-print and art books mostly, as well as German language books which are harder to buy in ebook format due to world book market issues) and put them behind glass cabinet doors, leaving the rest of my collection on a handful of memory sticks. This should actually help my allergies a great deal, and hopefully keep me from developing asthma.

And in a pinch, text-to-speech is good for when you are suffering from visual migraine aura. (I also have audio books for this as well, but you can't annotate them nearly as well.)

I fully expect the size issue to start making a noticeable difference in a decade or so, since I have Really Bad Eyesight(tm). Am pretty damn pleased with the idea that my new library will be easily upgradeable to Large Text.

...

Non-disability reasons for me to love my ereader: I was in the bathtub reading when the power went out. (The landlady was trying to fix stuff with the wiring.) I continued to sit in the bathrub reading by the light of my Nook Color.

My husband asks me what book I'm gonna take to dinner. (We often read while dining out. It's very relaxing.) I say, "ALL OF THEM!"

Finishing a cliff-hanging second volume in a trilogy at two in the morning? Not a problem. I purchase and queue up the next book (if it's a Friday or Saturday, anyway) and start reading--without moving from bed.

Word

[diamondie.myopenid.com]

I don't have an ebook reader, but I've been reading ebooks since the 1990s. For me the readability even on a CRT (nowadays I have a flat screen, but I've only had one for a few years) beats paper, even though I can also read paper books. For me the most important part is increasing the font size (I have neurological vision disturbances).

Last year a print book I ordered online turned out to have such a small font size I will probably never read it. It wouldn't be impossible and if it was my favorite author's new book or something I'd probably struggle through, but since it isn't, it's just too much trouble.

I'm also an author and I'm happy that both of my publishers have released ebooks of my titles. In Finland it's far from a given. Most publishers seem to hate ebooks and they usually cost 20-30 euros. Then it's easy to say "why publish them when no one buys them". My fiction and most of my non-fiction is about chronic illness/disability, so it would be quite ironic if they weren't available in any reasonably accessible format.

Re: Word

[tameiki]

Last year a print book I ordered online turned out to have such a small font size I will probably never read it. It wouldn't be impossible and if it was my favorite author's new book or something I'd probably struggle through, but since it isn't, it's just too much trouble.

If you can get this in any ebook format, you can convert it with Calibre, a free software program. I use it to convert any format into RTF format then open in Word. I can change the font, the font size, whatever it takes to make it readable on my computer. It might help you to read your book?

If you need directions on how to convert it over, I'd be happy to help :)

Re: Word

[diamondie.myopenid.com]

That's not the problem, the problem is that I bought a print book I'll probably never read (and it's not a book I desperately want to read so I'm not going to buy it again as an ebook). Thanks for the offer, though.

[holyschist]

I still find paper books more comfortable and easier to read myself, but I'm really glad ebooks make reading more accessible for so many people. I don't see why we can't have both.

[jesse_the_k]

Cosigned!

In an earlier life I created tools to aid in braille transcription. I also created braille and audio editions of their instruction manuals.

Now I dial my print up to 18 pt minimum.

I can even do this on my iPod Touch. When combined with the autoscroll feature in Instapaper, I hardly have to move my hands at all.

[fred_mouse]

Something I might have missed in what you were saying - ebooks are also incredibly helpful for some people with chronic pain or fatigue conditions - I can't always sit up to read a book, but I can curl up on my side with the iPad, and all I have to do is move a finger. Paper books can be too heavy, and come with too many restrictions (lighting! Positioning!) to be generally useful to me.

Having said that, I haven't yet reached the point where I'm willing to buy ebooks, because there is still so much else to read!

[cadenzamuse]

My mother-in-law and youngest sister-in-law (who is 10) both have bad car sickness, and they are in love with text-to-speech on the e-reader.

[ephemera]

Amen!