Accessible Publishing
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) promotes the production of "born accessible" publications that are fully accessible to all readers – our vision is for the same product to be usable by everybody.
In particular, ABC encourages all publishers to:
- use the accessibility features of the EPUB3 standard for the production of digital publications;
- include descriptions of the accessibility features of their products in the information they provide to retailers and others in the book supply chain.
Enroll in the ABC Online Course on Accessible Publishing Concepts
This introductory course aims at a high-level understanding of critical concepts in accessible publishing. Learn the essentials of accessibility standards and best practices in two to three hours. It is open to all and free of charge. Take it in: Arabic, English, French or Spanish.
ABC International Excellence Award
This annual award recognizes outstanding leadership and achievements in advancing the accessibility of digital publications for persons who are print disabled.
Two awards are presented each year, one to a publisher and one for a project initiative.
ABC encourages nominations of companies, organizations or individuals that are based in developing or least developed countries.
Past Winners of the ABC International Excellence Award for Accessible Publishing
Publisher Category:
- 2024: Gerbera Ediciones
- 2023: Bokförlaget Hegas AB
- 2022: Kogan Page
- Special Commendation: Constantine Editores
- 2021: Taylor & Francis Group
- 2020: Macmillan Learning
- 2019: EDITORIAL 5
- 2018: Hachette Livre
- 2017: SAGE Publishing
- 2016: Elsevier
- 2015: Cambridge University Press
Initiative Category:
- 2024: Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities (Australia and New Zealand)
- 2023: Accessible Reading Materials Library, Chetana Charitable Trust of India (India)
- Special Commendation: Kalimat Foundation (United Arab Emirates)
- 2022: Ashoka Bandula Weerawardhana (Sri Lanka)
- Special Commendation: Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind (Brazil)
- 2021: National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) (Canada)
- 2020: LIA Foundation (Italy)
- 2019: ekitabu (Kenya)
- 2018: Daisy Forum of India (India)
- 2017: Tiflonexos (Argentina)
- 2016: Action on Disability Rights and Development (Nepal)
- 2015: Young Power in Social Action (Bangladesh)




Accessible Publishing Resources
General
- The DAISY Consortium has a number of technologies and services available to support with the creation and validation of accessible publications including its Inclusive Publishing Hub
- “Ace by DAISY” is an open-source “Accessibility Checker” for e-books created in the EPUB format.
- The DAISY Pipeline facilitates the production and maintenance of accessible content for people with print disabilities, and can be used by anyone creating and upgrading digital content for print-disabled readers.
- EDRLab – European Digital Reading Lab is an international, non-profit development laboratory working on the deployment of an open, interoperable and accessible digital publishing ecosystem worldwide.
- DIAGRAM Center is a Benetech Global Literacy initiative focusing on accessible education technologies.
- W3C's Publishing Page has information on the standards that should be taken into consideration when producing accessible content.
- Quick Start Guide to Accessible Publishing was compiled by the Book Industry Study Group Content Structure Committee’s Accessible Publishing Working Group (Note: resource published in 2016).
- EPUB3 Accessibility Guidelines by Matt Garrish (Note: resource published in 2012).
Australia and New Zealand
- The Australian Inclusive Publishing Initiative (AIPI) has developed a publication, Inclusive Publishing in Australia?: An Introductory Guide, which offers publishers a set of workflow strategies for creating accessible digital books that are inclusive by design. This excellent Guide is relevant for all publishers.
- Books without Barriers is co-published by the Institute of Professional Editors and the Australian Publishers Association, written by Ms. Julie Ganner and Dr. Agata Mrva-Montoya with support from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund of Australia.
- Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities includes resources for accessible publishing
- Inclusive Publishing and the Quest for Reading Equity by Agata Mrva-Montoya is available to download and is published by Cambridge University Press.
Canada and USA
- Accessible Publishing Learning Network (APLN) is a Canadian-developed accessibility resource.
- Benetech's Top Tips for Creating Accessible EPUB Files was produced by Benetech, a US-based non-profit focused on expanding education opportunities for people who are print disabled.
- 1EdTech Guidelines for Developing Accessible Learning Applications present best practices for producing accessible software applications and accessible content for online distributed learning. This document is targeted at developers, courseware vendors, educational publishers, content developers, administrators, educators/instructors, and students.
Europe
- Accelerating Publishing Accessibility through Collaboration in Europe (APACE) coordinated by the APACE Consortium, serves as a key resource for guidelines, best practices, and white papers on publishing accessibility.
- European Blind Union Guidelines are available in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish.
- Inclusive Publishing in Practice (IPIP) co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. These free learning materials were created by BrailleNet (France), Dedicon (The Netherlands) and Johannes Kepler University (Austria).
ABC Resources
- Accessible Publishing, Best Practice Guidelines for Publishers was produced by EDitEUR with funding from WIPO. The guidelines are available in English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. (Note: resource published in 2011)
- Books for All Starter Kit for Accessible Publishing in Developing and Least-Developed Countries was developed by ABC and is designed for key stakeholders such as NGOs, departments of education, and publishers in developing and least-developed countries (LDCs). (Note: resources published in 2015)
- Guidelines for Self-Publishing Authors were produced by ABC and the International Authors Forum and written by Dave Gunn. (Note: resource published in 2016)


Charter for Accessible Publishing
The ABC Charter contains eight aspirational principles that publishers should follow to make their digital publications accessible to persons with print disabilities.