Audio-visual books in multiple accessible formats

"Livros em múltiplos formatos acessíveis" is an audio-visual software that converts books into a range of accessible formats, including Brazilian sign language, in a single version. Complementing this, the NGO Mais Diferenças from Brazil offers training and organizes inclusive readings for people with and without disabilities.

Livros Em Múltiplos Formatos Acessíve is is an audio-visual software developed in 2014 by Mais Diferenças, an NGO based in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The software provides a single audio-visual version of a book that incorporates text, narration, and interpretation in Brazilian sign language as well as other formats. As of 2021 more than 60 books have been produced and disseminated online, which have received more than 380,000 views. These books are also available in over 3,500 public, community, and school libraries.

Problems Targeted

Brazil has high levels of illiteracy and many people do not have the habit of reading because they face multiple barriers to access books in traditional formats.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

Mais Diferenças has created free and accessible audio-visual books that incorporate a range of accessible formats into one single version for children, youth, and adults – both with and without disabilities. People of various ages and with a range of disabilities were involved in every step of the programme development. For example, deaf individuals were involved in the translation of books into Brazilian sign language, and people with disabilities selected the titles, oversaw the development of the books, and reviewed the final product. To promote access to books and an inclusive reading culture, Mais Diferenças trains the staff of educational and cultural institutions on inclusion and accessibility. The NGO also organizes inclusive reading sessions using its accessible audio-visual books that engage people with and without disabilities.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

The programme is sponsored by Brazil’s municipal, state, and national institutions, such as the city of São Paulo and the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, as well as such corporate foundations as the Volkswagen Group Foundation and the Itaú Foundation for Education and Culture. In the coming years, Mais Diferenças plans to scale up its development of books and its promotion of inclusive reading culture by training other organizations to run inclusive reading sessions, clubs, and other activities. The NGO has already trained librarians from ten countries and advised the public library systems of Brazil, Panama, and Costa Rica on accessibility. Because the books are free and follow Universal Design principles, they have also benefitted people who communicate in Portuguese as a second language.

Pictures

Experiencing the same digital book with different accessiblity features of your choice

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THE STORY OF MARIO PAULO BOVINO GREGGIO, USER OF ACCESSIBLE BOOKS BY MAIS DIFERENÇAS

“The accessible books made me become an avid reader!”

I am 42 years old and have Asperger’s Syndrome. My school path was not easy. I stopped studying in the sixth grade. I also did not like to read and thought books were very boring. When I started working at Mais Diferenças, at the age of 31, the coordinators always tried their best to get me closer to books. One day they took me to a library that was close to the Mais Diferenças head office, and I went to get my card so I could borrow books to take home. The librarian was very attentive, showed me how to find the various the books, and I became interested in one of them. When Mais Diferenças started to make books accessible, the coordinators called upon me to read and to help in the development of the easy-to-read versions. They would ask me if I could understand the meaning, which words were more difficult, and what I could do to improve understanding. That’s when I started to enjoy reading. The accessible books helped me to become an avid reader! I read many things: books of fables, adventures, science. I also read newspapers, magazines, and comics. Reading finally helped me to go back to school, and today I have a degree in Information Technology and am thinking about going to another college.