[A2k] Blog: Who should benefit from a WIPO Treaty for Reading Disabled Persons?

[Manon Ress]

Who should benefit from a WIPO Treaty for Reading Disabled Persons?
By Manon Ress, on March 20th, 2009

http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/03/20/who-benefits/

This note discusses the issue of who should benefit from a WIPO treaty
for reading disabled persons. Should it only be people who are blind
and visually impaired, as some propose, or should it be more inclusive
with regard to other disabilities?

In the World Blind Union Proposal for a WIPO Treaty for Improved
Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons
(October 2008), a group of experts agreed to propose the following
language:

    Article 15. Disabilities Covered
    (a) For the purposes of this Treaty, a =91visually impaired=92 person
is:
    1. a person who is blind; or
    2. a person who has a visual impairment which cannot be improved
by the use of corrective lenses to give visual function substantially
equivalent to that of a person who has no visual impairment and so is
unable to access any copyright work to substantially the same degree
as a person without a disability.
    (b) Contracting Parties shall extend the provisions of this Treaty
to persons with any other disability who, due to that disability, need
an accessible format of a type that could be made under Article 4 in
order to access a copyright work to substantially the same degree as a
person without a disability.

picture: Christopher Friend

This language is consistent with recommendations by Judith Sullivan in
STANDING COMMITTEE ON COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS Fifteenth Session
Geneva, September 11 to 13, 2006 STUDY ON COPYRIGHT LIMITATIONS AND
EXCEPTIONS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED. She wrote =93The best way to
define the end beneficiary is likely to be by using a functional
definition. A functional definition would be based on a person=92s
inability to read the material that has already been published.=94 (page
111)
George Kerscher

Picture: George Kerscher

It is also consistent with George Kerscher, Secretary general of the
DAISY Consortium, also working for the non-profit Recording for the
Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D). George Kerscher began working on document
access in 1987 and coined the term =93print disabled=94 to describe people
who cannot effectively read print because of a visual, physical,
perceptual, developmental, cognitive, or learning disability.

Finally, if you look at the existing definitions of the reading
disabled persons who are beneficiaries of copyright exceptions in
various national laws, it is still consistent and makes a lot of sense.

FYI here are some examples from the US, EU, Canada, UK, Denmark and
Australia, to mention a few:

In the United States: =93blind or other persons with disabilities=94
The Chafee amendment to chapter 1 of title 17, United States Code,
adds section 121, establishing a limitation on the exclusive rights in
copyrighted works. The amendment allows authorized entities to
reproduce or distribute copies or phonorecords of previously published
nondramatic literary works in specialized formats exclusively for use
by blind or other persons with disabilities.

In the EU: =93people with a disability=94
Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
22 May 2001 on the harmonisation of certain aspects of copyright and
related rights in the information society

    5. 3. Member States may provide for exceptions or limitations to
the rights provided for in Articles 2 and 3 in the following cases:
    snip
    (b) uses, for the benefit of people with a disability, which are
directly related to the disability and of a non-commercial nature, to
the extent required by the specific disability;

In Canada, Section 32 of the Copyright Act of 1997: =94 Persons with
Perceptual Disabilities=94

    Persons with Perceptual Disabilities
    32. (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for a person, at
the request of a person with a perceptual disability, or for a non-
profit organization acting for his or her benefit, to
    (a) make a copy or sound recording of a literary, musical,
artistic or dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a
format specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability;
    (b) translate, adapt or reproduce in sign language a literary or
dramatic work, other than a cinematographic work, in a format
specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability; or
    (c) perform in public a literary or dramatic work, other than a
cinematographic work, in sign language, either live or in a format
specially designed for persons with a perceptual disability.

In the United Kingdom, the Visually Impaired Persons, Act 2002:

    A visually impaired person is defined broadly, as a person
    (a) who is blind;
    (b) who has an impairment of visual function which cannot be
improved, by the use of corrective lenses, to a level that would
normally be acceptable for reading without a special level or kind of
light;
    (c) who is unable, through physical disability, to hold or
manipulate a book; or
    (d) who is unable, through physical disability, to focus or move
his eyes to the extent that would normally be acceptable for reading.

In Denmark: Section 17 of the Danish Copyright Act of 2003: =93blind,
visually impaired, the deaf and sufferers from speech impediments, and
besides persons who on account of a handicap are unable to read
printed text.=94

    17.=01(1) It is permitted to use and distribute copies of published
works if the use and the distributed copies are specifically intended
for the blind, visually impaired, the deaf and sufferers from speech
impediments, and besides persons who on account of a handicap are
unable to read printed text

In Australia, the Copyright Act of 1968, as amended, defines Print
Disabled as follows:

    COPYRIGHT ACT 1968 - SECT 10
    Interpretation
    =93person with a print disability=94 means:
    (a) a person without sight; or
    (b) a person whose sight is severely impaired; or
    (c) a person unable to hold or manipulate books or to focus or
move his or her eyes; or
    (d) a person with a perceptual disability.

Many other countries also are inclusive in terms of the disabilities
covered by copyright exceptions.

Perhaps the most important standard is that incorporated in the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

    Article 1 Purpose

    The purpose of the present Convention is to promote, protect and
ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote
respect for their inherent dignity.

    Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term
physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in
interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective
participation in society on an equal basis with others.

Picture: Right to Read

***************************************************************************
Manon Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org
Knowledge Ecology International
1621 Connecticut Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel.:  +1.202.332.2670, Fax: +1.202.332.2673