By Julie Ganner AE
Having seen an early draft of this excellent new monograph on accessible and inclusive publishing by Agata Mrva-Montoya, I had been waiting eagerly all year for its publication. And in terms of content, it has certainly been well worth the wait. The text is packed with information and insights, from a comprehensive review of the legal and ethical environment to the global challenges and opportunities that inclusive publishing presents.
Agata sets forward her vision for a more equitable publishing industry in the Introduction. “The path forward requires radically reconceptualising how the publishing industry operates”, she argues. Instead of the current step-by-step approach, focusing largely on technology and formats, we need to reconsider the whole concept of how we create, distribute and read published materials.
“Central to this transformation is placing the experiences of people with print disability at the core of the publishing process, and adopting universal design principles that make accessibility the default, and not the exception, in the writing, editing, design, and production of books.”
Of course, this is not a simple procedure. As Chapter 2 makes clear, publishers need to overcome challenges such as limited knowledge and skills in implementing accessibility best practice, a lack of capacity, and the cost. (Remediating backlist catalogues in particular can be expensive, as titles are often PDF-based or published in outdated EPUB formats.) Publishers are also often concerned about protecting their copyright, which can cause further complications. While digital rights management (DRM) technology may help prevent unauthorised use of a text, it makes assistive technologies ineffective, thereby locking legitimate users out too.
However, inclusive publishing brings a raft of benefits that make this effort worthwhile. It allows publishers to enhance their brand and reputation by demonstrating a commitment to corporate social responsibility. And as accessible books provide benefits for all readers, inclusive publishing can offer substantial new market opportunities. Agata cites the increasing popularity of audiobooks as a prime example. While audio formats were originally developed for blind war veterans, they are also helpful for people who are not fluent in the dominant language or who choose to listen while engaged in other tasks. (Truck drivers, I was interested to learn, are “an important new audience for audiobooks”.)
“What began as a specialised solution has evolved into a mainstream alternative, demonstrating how accessibility-driven innovations can create unexpected benefits for broader populations.”
Chapter 3 offers a framework for publishers to implement inclusive publishing. Agata’s recommendations begin with reorienting corporate values and culture to better understand the diverse concerns and needs of people with disability, and establishing workplace teams to research and effect change. Publishers will also need to transform their workflows so that accessibility is factored in from the start of each project. This includes using human reviewers to check for quality assurance rather than over relying on technical validation and certification systems. And of course the book supply chain must be accessible too, not just the publication itself.
The final chapter of the book addresses the under-representation of people with disability in both the publishing workplace and in literature. Agata argues that this issue not only excludes some people from participation in work and reading opportunities, but it also deprives the industry of the skills, perspectives and lived experience those individuals can offer.
Furthermore, for a publication to be truly inclusive, it must reflect the principles of both diversity and accessibility best practice.
“While a text might perfectly represent diverse perspectives, it fails if readers cannot engage with its content. Conversely, perfectly accessible writing falls short if it perpetuates exclusionary viewpoints or erases marginalised voices.”
And this is Agata’s key point. Accessibility challenges are not a marginal issue, and who better to help the publishing industry address them than people with lived experience of them? It is only with better representation that disability will become normalised, and the barriers to accessibility and participation removed.
Which brings me to address the elephant in the, er … text.
I was deeply disappointed to see that the publisher had decided to ignore the principles of accessibility best practice advocated by its own author. The text is also available in a choice of EPUB and HTML formats, so it’s okay that the PDF version I read is not itself accessible. However, it is also set fully justified (rather than ragged right) with the hyphenation enabled. This has resulted in some horrible line breaks that disrupt the reading experience for all readers. And as anyone familiar with Books without barriers will immediately notice, the headings are centred and in italics, which is problematic for readers with dyslexia and vision impairment.
Moreover, the editors have actually overridden the editing choices for best practice that Agata had made in her draft, and changed numerals under 100 to written form (these are statistics, for goodness sake).
And finally, to make things even worse, all the double quote marks have been changed to single quote marks. Seriously.
Why any organisation would want to publish a book on accessibility and inclusion that is neither accessible nor (by the definitions so clearly outlined in its own text) inclusive is beyond me. It seems like shooting yourself in the foot – unless of course you are trying to provide an example of what not to do.
None of which is to detract from Agata’s excellent work. The book is an important contribution to our understanding of how publishing needs to evolve in order to meet both consumer demand and legislative requirements, and I encourage everyone in the publishing industry to read it. However, it’s such a shame that the publisher has missed this opportunity to show us what a thoughtfully designed and edited text looks like when accessibility and inclusion are built into the project from inception.
As this timely book reminds us, a “vision of complete inclusion should guide our collective efforts towards a future where books and the publishing industry are truly accessible to all”.
Inclusive publishing and the quest for reading equity is published by Cambridge University Press. It is available at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009528511.