Success! The United States Ratifies the Marrakesh Treaty

Today is a monumental day for millions of people around the world with reading barriers due to blindness, low vision, dyslexia, or a physical disability. With the full support of Congress and approval by President Trump, the United States joins the 70 other countries that have ratified the Marrakesh Treaty, formally known as the Marrakesh […]

Time to Ratify the Marrakesh Treaty and End the Global Book Famine

We stand on the threshold of ending the global book famine for people who read differently due to blindness, low vision, dyslexia, or a physical disability that interferes with reading. A bill to ratify and implement the Marrakesh Treaty was just introduced in the United States Senate by the chairs and ranking members of the […]

Bookshare Offers Global Solution to Unlock Access to Books

At Benetech, we believe that access to information is a universal human right. However, according to the World Blind Union, nearly ninety-five percent of books and published materials cannot be read by people with disabilities. Our work is focused on making reading accessible to everyone around the world. How do we accomplish this goal? Starting […]

Why Your Country Should Ratify the Marrakesh Treaty

Access to information and knowledge is a basic human right and a necessary first step towards personal, economic, and social development. Yet around the world, over 100 million individuals are denied this basic right. They include people who are blind, visually impaired, have dyslexia, or have a physical disability that prevents them from reading regular […]

Optimistic about Marrakesh Treaty!

The World Blind Union’s (WBU) Right to Read campaign for ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty just concluded two days of meetings in Berlin, Germany. The attendees were mostly the regional coordinators of the campaign, and the news was good. I found the optimism exciting: it seems like we’re moving quickly to getting twenty countries to ratify the Treaty. It even seems likely that it could happen in 2015!