Bookshare memberships are for students who are blind, have low vision, have such learning disabilities as severe dyslexia, or have a disability such as cerebral palsy that could keep them from holding a book. Such students have what are collectively called print disabilities—a distinct departure from saying “learning disabilities,” said David Rose, the chief education officer at the Center for Applied Special Technology, or CAST, in Wakefield, Mass.
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Using the phrase “print disability” said Mr. Rose, “is co-locating the problem. Print is part of the problem.” His nonprofit organization works on expanding learning opportunities for all individuals, especially those with disabilities, through a set of principles called “universal design for learning.”
“We can convey that information in a whole host of ways now. In that world, you go, ‘Print is not very good for a lot of kids,’ ” he said.
Interesting article in edweek on Bookshare - a non-profit electronic book service that provides free digital copies of books in accessible formats for kids with print disabilities, a term coined by George Kerscher to cover visual, physical and language based disabilities that impact the ability to read a physical book.
