The dawn of the digital age has brought with it a dystopian-esque vision of a robot-dominated society: where humans hide underground and scavenge for nuts and berries, living in dark caves like their sad and stinky ancestors, the Homo sapiens— but before this nightmare inevitably comes to pass, we can agree that digitalisation of society has done one good thing. It’s made publishing more accessible than ever.
For the disadvantaged reader, content is being consumed with an ease that is owed totally to the advancements of modern technology.
When I talk about accessibility in publishing, what do I mean? I’m referring to a specific production and publishing method, or ethos, that incorporates designs aimed at aiding or reimagining the traditional reading process. Why is this important? To those who have never given it a second thought, reading might appear to be the simplest or most basic of human tasks. However, for someone suffering from visual impairments, for someone who is blind or deals with a motor disorder, traditional print publishing is out of the question. It is not accessible to them.
Thankfully, the digital revolution swept in and hordes of content fled to the online web. Here, floating in liminal space surrounded by millions and trillions of 1’s and 0’s, they took on different forms:
The e-book emerged. While the majority of ebooks today exist in their purest form (content merely copied and pasted from print to digital), many e-books are chock full of customisable features such as text size, colour overlay, and alternative text forms like image, video, and audio. These additions can help readers dealing with disabilities more easily engage with content that would have previously been out of reach.
Audio-based content in itself is an accessibility tool, and it has taken off in the wider publishing industry through platforms such as Audible and Spotify’s booming podcast genre. After witnessing a surge during the pandemic, audiobooks are the fastest-growing format in publishing. And while the websites themselves that host these audios are not always the most accessible, this shift away from traditional print has opened so many doors for those who require aid in reading— making it so that everyone, no matter what can enjoy their favourite books.
Written by Alex Patel.