The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) marks 10 years of delivering books in accessible formats, such as braille, audio, e-text, large print, to people who are blind or otherwise print disabled worldwide. The Consortium was founded in June 2014 with the aim to implement the goals of the Marrakesh Treaty.
Over the last decade, ABC has increased its repertoire to approximately one million books in specially adapted formats, ensuring that people with visual impairments or print disabilities have access to information, knowledge, and literature.
This major milestone was celebrated with a ceremony at the WIPO headquarter in Geneva.
The celebratory event included the performance of Mr. Cobhms Asuquo, a Nigerian singer/songwriter who was born blind. During his speech, Mr. Asuquo highlighted the importance of the ABC work by referring to it as “ordinary people who do extraordinary things”.
Read more about this event and watch the video of the celebration.
Background
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is a public-private partnership led by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that brings together all of the key players – organizations representing people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled, authors, publishers, collective management organizations, libraries and other authorized entities, as well as standards bodies. ABC was established in June 2014 to implement the goals of the Marrakesh Treaty.