INTRODUCTION TO
PRINT DISABILITY
Prepared by
IFLA section LPD
2011
What is a print disability
• Unable to read standard print
• Blindness
• Low vision
• Perceptual or cognitive disability
• Unable to physically hold a book
• Severe arthritis
• Paraplegic
• MS
• The following slides illustrate six different common causes
of a print disability.
Standard newspaper
Example of standard print
size and text found in
everyday newspaper.
Every day:
> 276 million
newspapers
circulated in one day
Standard newspaper
If you have diabetic retinopathy
this is how you would view the
same newspaper
Every year:
16,942 magazine titles are
produced
Over 1,000,000 books are
published
Standard newspaper
If you had aged related macular
degeneration this is how you
would view the same newspaper
Around the world:
314 million people who are
blind or have low vision
Only 5% of the worlds
published works are in
accessible formats
Standard newspaper
How someone with cataracts
would see the same
newspaper
Over 200
organisations
providing libraries for
the blind, low vision
and print disabilities.
Standard newspaper
How someone with glaucoma
would see the same
newspaper
90% of blind and
low vision people
are in developing
countries.
Standard newspaper
How someone with
Dyslexia would see the
same newspaper
Over 1.3 billion people
in the world have a
print disability*
*this includes blindness and low vision
LPD our mission:
• Establish a global accessible library of accessible material
• Influence international policy on access to
knowledge and information
• Establish and support guidelines of best practice
• Raise the profile of LPD and accessible library
services within the library community
• Further information: www.ifla.org/en/lpd