What is a print disability?
Access to the CELA collection is restricted to people with print disabilities living in Canada.
A print disability is a learning, physical or visual disability that prevents a person from reading conventional print.
More specifically, a print disability can be a:
- Learning disability: An impairment relating to comprehension
- Physical disability: The inability to hold or manipulate a book
- Visual disability: Severe or total impairment of sight or the inability to focus or move one’s eyes
This definition of print disability is from the Canadian Copyright Act because it is this Act that lets CELA reproduce published materials in alternative formats for its collection. The term used in the Act is “perceptual disability”.
Read more about Copyright and print disability.
A print disability, as defined in the Canadian Copyright Act, does not include reading difficulties that result from low literacy levels.
When determining eligibility for CELA services, ask yourself if the barrier could be removed by presenting the same content in a different format. If the barrier is related to the material’s content, the definition in the Copyright Act does not apply.
For help determining eligibility, please contact us.