At the beginning there was Braille. This system, as simple as it is brilliant, provided full autonomy to blind readers around the world. However, since 1825, year at which Louis Braille invented the alphabet which bears his name, the technology has facilitated reading for those with vision loss. Braille displays, embossers and large screen software are a few of the tools that are making it possible and simple for the visually impaired to read.
In this scenario of electronic innovations, however, the cultural market remains protective of its privileges. Publishing houses are not getting involved, as they should, in disseminating their products to as many people as possible, including people with vision loss, ignoring even the possibility of opening up a new market and punishing whoever copies their works protected by copyright. This was the subject of debate, on a late February evening in the large hall of the Istituto Cavazza, debate promoted by the Institute itself and the Association of Bolognese Authors.
The evocative power of reading is profound, but needs to be exercized freely with the pleasure of strolling between words, interpretating them with one's own imagination without the assistance of a recorded voice. A small commitment on the part of the publishing industry would be sufficient, like attaching to the paper book an electronic file containing the full text instead of imposing upon visually impaired people long hours of already printed page scanning (in theory illegal), a backward process since the files already exist. It is only a matter of making them accessible to everyone.
Because if copyright is sacred, it is also true for the right to know, to learn, to participate in life. This is a right which belongs to those who learn from the world with their eyes, but also to those who see that world in another manner. Just as in the past Louis Braille was opposed to the dissemination of his 6-raised dot alphabet enabling blind people to walk on their way towards cultural independence, today with the same heedlessness, the culture business is ignoring a portion of the population. Beyond the polemic which often animates the literary debate among critics, authors and publishers, in an annoying 'not in my yard' game, words unleashed left to free interpretation still have the power to change the world.
And the world also belongs to those who don't see.