• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / Human Rights / New laws will open up access to books, films and music

New laws will open up access to books, films and music

By John Pring on 6th June 2014 Category: Human Rights, News Archive

Listen

newslatestMore disabled people will be able to make accessible copies of books, films and music, thanks to reforms to copyright law that came into force this week.

The new exemptions to copyright for those making accessible format versions of material for disabled people are among a range of reforms introduced by the government.

Exemptions to copyright previously allowed visually-impaired people, and their organisations, to make accessible versions of certain types of material, such as books, and allowed some organisations to produce sub-titled copies of broadcasts.

But the exemptions did not apply to people with other impairments, such as dyslexia, and only applied to certain types of copyrighted work.

Thanks to the reforms, exemptions will apply to anyone with an impairment that prevents them accessing copyrighted work.

The law will also allow individuals, educational institutions and charities to reproduce all types of copyright-protected content in accessible formats, as long as an accessible-format copy is not already commercially-available.

And the law has been simplified to make it easier for organisations to provide sub-titled copies of broadcasts.

Among the acts that are now legal are: making sub-titled films for deaf people; adding audio-description to television programmes for visually-impaired people; and making accessible copies of books for people with dyslexia.

David Buxton, chief executive of the British Deaf Association, said: “The British Deaf Association is in full favour of any development, whether technical or legal in nature, that enables Deaf people to increase their access to mainstream services.

“We are aware that many films and digital content currently available on the internet are not subtitled and, therefore, not fully accessible to the Deaf community.

“The British Deaf Association welcomes new copyright rules that enable organisations to add subtitles to products.”

In an impact assessment of the reforms, published in December 2012, the Intellectual Property Office suggested that broadening the copyright exceptions would have “significant social and cultural benefits for people who are unable to access copyright works due to their disability”.

It could also increase demand for accessible technology services such as captioning, audio description and subtitling.

The changes to the copyright exceptions have been made through statutory instruments that amend the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

4 June 2014

Share this post:

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit

Related

Covid inquiry ‘must examine catastrophic impact of pandemic on disabled people’
30th June 2022
Disabled activists will push for changes to draft mental health bill that ‘breaches rights’
30th June 2022
‘Feeble’ human rights watchdog should lose its ‘A’ rating, DPAC tells international body
16th June 2022

Primary Sidebar

Image shows a man wearing glasses sitting by an open laptop The text reads: Free Career Support for Disabled People Our services include: 1-2-1 Coaching Online Career Resources Find Support near you Search for Inclusive Jobs Career Events and Workshops Visit the Evenbreak Career Hive today to find out how we can help you

Access

Latest Stories

Disabled people are playing their part in defending their country, say Ukraine activists

DPO gives stark warning to disabled people about Covid pandemic

Covid inquiry ‘must examine catastrophic impact of pandemic on disabled people’

Mayor’s ‘ultra low emission zone’ plans ‘will impact tens of thousands of disabled people’

Disabled activists will push for changes to draft mental health bill that ‘breaches rights’

DWP yet to sign claimant deaths legal agreement with watchdog

‘Huge barrier’ of care charges is forcing disabled people into poverty, peers are told

DWP ignored ‘hugely alarming’ research that linked WCA with 600 suicides, MPs are told

Transport secretary silent after misleading MPs about tactile safety markings

DWP’s ‘failing assessment system is increasing poverty and worsening mental health’

Advice and Information

Readspeaker

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web