By Bizibrains Okpeh
Globally, there is less information available or accessible to persons with print disabilities (PWPDs), or otherwise the print disabled. These are persons who are blind or have visual impairments or perceptual or reading disabilities, which cannot be improved to give visual function substantially equivalent to that of persons who have no such impairments or disabilities and so are unable to read printed works to substantially the same degree as persons without impairments or disabilities, or are otherwise unable, through physical disability, to hold or manipulate a book or to focus or move the eyes to the extent that would be normally acceptable for reading, regardless of any other disabilities.
Available data from the World Blind Union shows that of all books published globally, only between 1 and 7 percent are available or accessible to persons who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise print disabled, who number about 285 million, most of whom are domiciled in underserved areas in developing countries. This number is put at 300 million in some publications. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), at least, 2.2 billion people worldwide have near or distant vision impairment. Notwithstanding the paucity of data, at least, 4.25 million Nigerians are blind or visually impaired.
It is recorded that in the developed world, 95% of published works are inaccessible to PWPDs. The situation is even direr in the low-income, middle-income, and developing world such as Africa, including Nigeria, where less than 1% of all published work is accessible to PWPDs. This means that 99% of published works are inaccessible to the print disabled in Nigeria. This global information poverty or “book famine” remains a veritable barrier to the quest for sustainable, equal, and inclusive education and access to quantitative and qualitative information.
There is a greater need, therefore, for a more targeted and robust solution to the information poverty in Nigeria, one that does not only address the problem from a place of gross generality (as is the case with the National Disability Act), or from the past (already published works), or targets intellectual property, or copyright holders, or publishers after publication (as is the case with the Marrakesh Treaty), but one that also takes due cognisance of future publications, having regard to the very specific needs of the print disabled, by targeting copyright holders or publishers at the point of production or publication. And there could be no better place to start, I think, other than the National Library – the citadel of educational materials and information repository in Nigeria.
The National Library of Nigeria and Access to Information to the Print Disabled
There is no gainsaying that “Libraries play a catalytic role in the lives of people with disabilities by facilitating their full participation in society”. Hence, “Libraries should use strategies based upon the principles of universal [and inclusive] design to ensure that library policy, resources, and services meet the needs of all people.” The National Library of Nigeria as currently designed is largely not a diverse and inclusive institution. If it was meant to service the education and information needs of all citizens (and residents) of Nigeria, then it has failed the more than 30 million Nigerians with disabilities and 4.25 million (adult) Nigerians with print disabilities who cannot have access to it and/or the resources or books it holds, respectively. And this algorithm is by no means difficult to draw. Because, among other things, the National Library Act (“the Principal Act”) is inclined to print, or hard copy, or text-based materials, characterised by immobile or fixed characters, text, or images, which a person with a print disability cannot access, read, or otherwise manipulate without alternative modifications as a result of certain physical, cognitive, learning, or sensory deficiencies or disabilities, such as blindness, and other visual impairments, etc.
More so, the deposit obligations under Section 4 of the Principal Act, inter alia, provides to the effect that every publisher of a book in Nigeria shall, within one month after publication, deposit with the National Library three copies of the book. And under Section 4(7) of the Principal Act, notwithstanding that “book” is defined to include “all forms in which documentary or oral records are published,” in effect, it could be said to mean or essentially inclined to print/hardcopy materials. Because the section goes further to define a “publisher,” in relation to a book, as “any person authorising or causing the book to be printed and distributed in Nigeria,…”
If this were to be so, the Act might have subtly or inadvertently excluded other forms of books such as e-books or books in electronic format or softcopy, audiobooks, and other accessible format copies, etc. In effect, therefore, being that the National Library of Nigeria holds largely only print materials or resources, one could say that it was established without due contemplation or consideration of the print disabled – it has no place for them, it has no section for them, and it holds no books for them. Could this be the “Gakem” of the info-disablement – the beginning of the burgeoning national information poverty in Nigeria?
Which Way Forward?
The impact of this Proposed Draft Bill if passed into law cannot be overstated. Major outcomes would include making the National Library of Nigeria disability diverse and inclusive, reducing information poverty or scarcity, and encouraging inclusive learning, self-expression, and innovation among PWPDs. This would result in their overall socio-economic empowerment, mental health improvements, and general wellbeing. Also, it would facilitate the mainstreaming of future publications or published works in accessible format copies, and would also influence the attainment of most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
If the information poverty in Nigeria is not to endure any further, the National Library should necessarily become disability diverse and inclusive. This would have a spillover effect on the education institutions in Nigeria and the country at large. If I should dream, let me dream of a day when persons who are blind or visually impaired could work to any public library in our primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, and find there, readable or accessible books, including e-libraries and accessible websites, to the best of their disabilities. The print disabled should not be left to overcome information scarcity all by themselves, which is currently the case. No. The solution should be deliberately institutionalised, systematised, and mainstreamed. This is the only sustainable way forward – the road worth taking.
It is for this reason, therefore, that no efforts should be spared towards ensuring an inclusive National Library of Nigeria. All stakeholders should double down on this conversation. The Commission must leverage on its power, including the power to make regulations vested on the Governing Council for the Commission, and functions under the National Disability Act, which include formulating and implementing guidelines as appropriate for the education and social development of PWDs, ensuring that facilities in all communities in the federation shall be built and modified to accommodate PWDsestablishing and promoting inclusive schools, vocational centres, and rehabilitation centres for PWDs, liaising with the public and private sectors to ensure the interests of PWDs are taken care of in every government policy, programme, and activity, collaborating with the media to make information available in accessible formats for PWDs, and procuring assistive devices for all disability types, among others, to pursue inclusion and disability diversification of the National Library.
Furthermore, increased efforts should be made towards nationalising the Marrakesh Treaty by accelerating the passage of the Copyright (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill, 2021 (SB.688), which has passed the second reading at the Senate. And should there be anyone who is still in doubt of what to do, or how to do it, here you already have it – the Proposed Draft National Library (Amendment) Bill, 2021 – own it and run with it.