Accessibility in Publishing: Uncharted Ground Worth Exploring

Accessibility is showing up more and more in how cultural products and events are created and circulated, whether through public or private initiatives. Uruguay's publishing field, as a historic and currently active space for cultural circulation, is no exception. That makes this a key moment for developing accessibility in book production, with an innovative and human-centered approach.

On April 17, 2019, the European Union approved Directive 2019/882, known as the European Accessibility Act (EAA). The directive took effect last year and, among other things, requires that books produced by European publishers, and those sold within the EU, include an accessible electronic version that meets quality standards for enjoyment.

While this directive was only recently approved, and EU member states will have time to phase in these measures, it's only a matter of time before the publishing field adapts and finds ways to keep producing and circulating books of every genre. Uruguay has a real opportunity here to enter the accessible publishing field with an innovative, proactive theoretical, methodological, and ethical approach — one grounded in human rights and centered on users.

Today, the accessibility tools already circulating in the field include screen readers for .epub files, PDFs with optical character recognition (OCR), and adaptations drawing on some aspects of easy-to-read guidelines (simplifying sentences, both in meaning and wording; using glossaries for complex terms), among others. However, these tools tend to be applied without validation or participation from actual users, without much thought given to the final product or its usability.

That said, while there are ongoing initiatives to implement accessibility tools in e-books — Ceibal being one example — there's still a long way to go in this field. Along those lines, it's worth exploring alternatives so that accessibility in publishing isn't limited to electronic formats, achieving a real integration between the reading experience and the accessibility tools needed to understand and enjoy a text. That requires specific training in editing in general, and in accessible editing in particular, along with interdisciplinary work and validation with actual users as essential parts of producing and circulating accessible books.

Finally, in the medium and long term, it seems necessary to build accessibility into the entire publishing chain — from editing a book, through graphic production, to its marketing and circulation. That calls for editors with accessibility knowledge, a proactive, user-centered approach, and a human rights perspective.

At Sintagma, we're closely watching Uruguay's publishing field with the goal of building accessibility into the editorial production process, particularly within independent publishing, which allows for greater flexibility, creativity, and access to specialized markets.