Composed by: Emily Flynn, Ability Tools Staff.
Information Sourced from Bookshare®
Bookshare is a massive online library that opens up the world of reading for people with print disabilities.
If you cannot read traditional print books because of a visual impairment, physical disability or severe learning disability, Bookshare can help!
The books available are “accessible,” which means you can read the books many different ways.
Bookshare offers the world’s largest collection of accessible titles. As a result, people of all ages, as well as schools and many organizations around the globe can access the books they need for school, work, career advancement, skill development and the simple love of reading in formats that work for them.
How can you read Bookshare books?
- Listen to books with high quality text-to-speech voices
- Hear and see highlighted words on screen
- Read with digital braille or enlarged fonts
- Create physical braille or large print
- Read directly from your Internet browser
- And more!
Who can join?
In order for you to become a Bookshare® member, an expert must confirm that you have a print disability that severely inhibits or prevents you from reading traditional print materials. Anyone in the world with a qualifying print disability may join Bookshare.
- Low vision/ blindness
- Physical Disabilities
- Learning Disabilities
Examples of qualified experts related to each disability please click HERE for a more in depth list.
What does it cost?
Bookshare is FREE for qualified U.S. students of any age and schools through an award from OSEP (Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education). Non-students and other organizations pay a low fee.
Individual Costs:
- U.S. Students: FREE
- Other Individuals: $50 annually + $25 setup
- Discounted fees available in some countries
Organization Costs:
- U.S. Schools: FREE
- Other Organizations: $6-10 per book. (Learn more)
- Discounted fees available in some countries
For more information and details on Costs and Memberships please visit: https://www.bookshare.org/cms/Bookshare-me/what-does-it-cost
