The Provision of Reading Support for Students with Print Disabilities Project in Saint Lucia advances with a three-day pilot training for select students and teachers from the island’s six special needs schools on the use of Bookshare, a specialized online reading system. The training will be held 11th-13th October 2021 at the Lady Gordon Opportunity Centre and facilitated by Bookshare personnel virtually.

Bookshare powers the world’s largest digital accessible libraries of eBooks for individuals with visual impairment, severe dyslexia, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers. Saint Lucia joins over 94 countries and territories that are making use of Bookshare technology. “This library brings Saint Lucia into the global forefront of accessible reading,” says Bookshare Vice President, Brad Turner.

He further indicates that in addition to the over 18 million publications on the system, “…it will hold key educational materials from the Saint Lucia curriculum. The books will be converted into multiple digital accessible formats such as electronic braille, audio, and large print to meet different student needs.” The three-day training will also cover use of the Braille One device which allows the visually impaired to interact with a computer without assistance.

Staff and students of the Lady Gordon Opportunity Centre will be the first to actually use the Bookshare Library on island. Principal Linda Preville shares her perspective on the upcoming pilot: “I have often witnessed how students with reading disabilities, reading challenges and print disabilities become demotivated and self-conscious. Their confidence levels plummet while struggling to read a passage or poem from a basal reader or storybook.

Utilizing the online books and assistive devices Bookshare affords, teachers will now be able to support students in their unique learning styles. Students will be able to work independently with a teacher as a guide/facilitator, as students read for academic purposes or for pleasure.”

The Provision of Reading Support for Students with Print Disabilities Project is a collaborative undertaking between the Departments of Sustainable Development and Education and is funded by the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) in the sum of US$20,000.00. The initiative is in keeping with Saint Lucia’s obligations as a signatory to the Conventions on the Rights of a Child and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as the Marrakesh Treaty.

The Marrakesh Treaty plays a significant role in the scope of the project’s implementation, accommodating the production and international transfer of specially adapted books for the visually impaired. This can only be accomplished through exceptions that the treaty sets to traditional copyright law.

Related Articles