The Family Center on Technology and Disability

Betsy Burgess
The print, bound book is an educational barrier for many students with print disabilities.  Text in accessible digital formats, such as DAISY (Digital Accessible Information System) and BRF (digital Braille), can remove barriers and allow students with print disabilities to start reading and studying independently. 

Since IDEA’s reauthorization in 2004, a standard file format for textbooks has been set, known as NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard). Textbook publishers are now required to deposit NIMAS files into a repository called the NIMAC (National Instructional Materials Access Center) at the request of state and local educational agencies.  Only K-12 U.S. students who are both Chafee-qualified and have an IEP can use NIMAC textbooks.

Publishers have been gradually adding textbooks into the NIMAC, and there are now thousands of textbooks in the repository.  Yet, educational agencies and educators at the local level are having difficulty understanding how to access these files, and so the download and use of these files at this time has been sparse.

Before a student can access a NIMAC textbook, it must be converted into student-ready digital files such as DAISY and BRF.  Educators can request that a NIMAC textbook be converted by contacting an Authorized User (AU) of the NIMAC.  The AU can then either convert the textbook and provide it to the student or assign the request to an
Accessible Media Producer (AMP) who will fulfill the request.  Each state has an NIMAC coordinator who can help educators contact AUs to request textbooks.

Bookshare is an Authorized User of the NIMAC for CA, CO, KS, MA, MD, MO, MT, NH, NY, OR, TN, VT, and Guam.  Other states are joining this list on a regular basis.  In these states and territory, Bookshare has provided an easy and efficient way to check for available textbooks on its website or request that textbooks be added to Bookshare’s online library.  Educators from other states can still get textbooks from Bookshare, but they must first contact an AU in their state.  As Bookshare becomes an AU in more states and territories, the ease and availability of accessible textbooks will increase. 

Annette Cerreta
Do you find digital book options bewildering? You are not alone. The laws surrounding accessible instructional material have been in place for some time yet there is still much uncertainty surrounding who qualifies for and how to get accessible instructional material. Many students qualify for accessible instructional material and many who still need text in an alternate form do not qualify. Once an educator or parent gets through qualification they then need to figure out how and where to go to obtain the correct file. The next challenge is what to play it on.

It has been my experience that even the assistive technology specialists are having a hard time sorting through the alphabet soup of file designations. Parents and educators must sort through the bewildering world of WMA, DAISY, TXT and BRF. But knowledge is power and once we understand the lingo of file formats we can identify the correct tool to play them on. There is a range of tools including computer software and portable players that allow a user to access the audio and digital text files that have been identified.

Through this online discussion I hope to help participants make sense of digital book options for students with print-related disabilities. We will explore many free and low-cost resources for obtaining and accessing digital books for students with print-related disabilities. We will demystify the lingo of digital book formats and discuss a range of software and hardware for playing and modifying digital books.

I look forward to discussing these issues and others related to accessible instructional material.

Joy Zabala
Early in the 21st century, educators and families began hearing about how policy-makers, publishers, media producers and educators were working collaboratively to develop the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS) – a single, flexible source file that can be converted to Braille, Large Print, Audio or Digital student-ready materials. The NIMAS was (and still is!) expected to revolutionize the timely provision of accessible formats of print-based instructional materials to students with disabilities. However, since adoption of the NIMAS and the creation of the NIMAC – the National Instructional Materials Access Center - appeared in Section 300.172 of the Final Regulations of IDEA 2004, it has become increasingly clear that the use of the NIMAS is more constrained by copyright law than educators and families had expected and that the wording of the legislation and regulations raises many questions for which the answers appear to vary based on interpretation, perspective, and responsibility.

Throughout the development of the NIMAS and the implementation of the Accessible Instructional Materials mandate, CAST (http://www.cast.org) has played a strong role by providing leadership to the NIMAS Development Center, the NIMAS Technical Assistance Center (http://nimas.cast.org) and the Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) Consortium. The AIM Consortium (http://aim.cast.org) is made up of fifteen states working collaboratively to develop high quality systems that ensure the timely delivery of specialized formats of textbooks and related core materials to student with print-related disabilities.

As the project manager for the AIM Consortium, I have had both the challenge and reward of working closely with the states involved in the Consortium as well as the leaders of other states, other funded projects, and publishers to sort through and ponder some of the major questions related to the provision of accessible instructional materials… “What ARE accessible instructional materials?”… “What are specialized formats?”…“What is a print disability?”… “How do we decide who has one?”… “How can materials be obtained?”… “What else is needed for students to use these materials effectively?”…and, of course, “Where can I get help when I need it?”

At present, the “right answer” to these questions and more is often the same that we half jokingly use in the AT world - “It depends”. Although many answers are unclear, I look forward to working with all of you during the Institute to explore some of the issues that will help us move toward clarify of what “it depends upon” when seeking accessible instructional materials for individual students and, more broadly, as a part of universally designed curricula. In these early years of implementation, we have learned a lot. I am excited about being a part of conversations that deepen insights and help us all move forward together toward an effective, efficient, and equitable system that supports the selection, acquisition and use of instructional materials that enable the active participation and achievement of ALL students!