Scotland

Education mustn't be a closed book for children with sight loss, says charity

Summary: RNIB Scotland is calling for a National Transcription Centre to be established to make educational materials accessible to all.

Education mustn't be a closed book for children with sight loss, says charity.

Many of Scotland's blind and partially sighted children struggle to access school textbooks in a format they can understand, delegates at today's SNP conference in Edinburgh will hear.

Schools Minister Maureen Watt will speak at a fringe meeting, organised by the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland, alongside Glasgow pupil George McLaughlin.

George (15), who attends Uddingston Grammar, has been blind since birth due to retinopathy, a condition that affects the back of the eye. "I'm lucky," he said. "My school has a special resource unit for pupils with a visual impairment. I will tell delegates about how big a difference being able to get accessible material makes to me. It means I can keep up with my sighted peers and get the chance of a better education."

Like George, most children with sight loss now attend mainstream schools. But very few books are transcribed into formats such as large print, braille or audio, and few study guides or past exam papers are available either, says RNIB Scotland.

The charity will launch a 'Right to Read' campaign later this year to highlight the lack of schoolbooks in braille, audio or large-print.

Director John Legg said: "We believe these children should have the right to access educational material at the same time as their sighted peers. But for many councils it is not economically viable to produce all of these in accessible formats. For example, a book in an alternative format can cost four or five times that of an ordinary book."

RNIB Scotland will propose that a National Transcription Service be established to provide such children with textbooks in the format they need at the same time as their peers. Educational publishers could make electronic copies of their textbooks available for sale or licensing to teachers and specialist agencies through this central resource, it says.

West of Scotland MSP Stuart McMillan, deputy convenor of the Cross Party Group on Visual Impairment at Hollyrood, will chair today's fringe meeting.

Content author: ian.brown@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 17/04/2008 17:18