Conrad Harris, Executive Director of the Jamaica Society for the Blind (JSB), was born blind in rural Jamaica. He had some residual vision until the age of 12, when he lost it completely. For him, the discussions at the recent WIPO Workshop on the Marrakesh Treaty and the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) in Trinidad and Tobago were deeply personal.
He was one of twelve children, five brothers and six sisters, and the only one who was blind. When it came time for him to go to school, his parents initially kept him at home, sending a younger sibling instead. It was only after a representative from the Salvation Army visited the family that Harris was enrolled in a school for the blind.
That moment changed the course of his life. He went on to attend a local high school and later university, but access to reading materials remained a constant challenge.
We had braille, and I loved reading,” Harris recalls. “I spent hours in the school library, going through encyclopedias. But almost all the books we had came from the United States. There was very little local content.”
To access Jamaican materials, students often relied on volunteers to read aloud while they took notes. “If I had had my textbooks in accessible formats, I would have had time for hobbies, for socializing, for building friendships,” he says. “At university, those networks matter as much as education itself, but when you’re constantly struggling just to access the material and take notes, you miss out.”
It is this lived experience that Harris brought with him to the regional workshop in Port of Spain, which gathered professionals from 13 Caribbean countries to advance implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty.
That sense of resolve was echoed by regional education authorities attending the workshop. Dr. Wayne Wesley, Registrar and CEO of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®), stressed that accessibility must be treated as a non-negotiable standard across the education system. “Accessible books and exam materials are not just a legal or ethical requirement—they are a moral imperative — unlocking the full potential of the Marrakesh Treaty, which will empower visually impaired persons and all learners to read, learn, and thrive,” he said, underscoring the responsibility of publishers and institutions to ensure that learners who are blind or visually impaired can read, learn, and participate on equal terms.
One of the most striking takeaways for Harris was the progress made by Trinidad and Tobago. The National Library and Information System Authority (NALIS) has become the first authorized entity in the Caribbean to produce accessible educational textbooks through ABC training and support. He was also surprised that many countries in the region have yet to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty. “To me, it’s a no-brainer,” he said. “The cost is not significant, and the impact on people’s lives is enormous.”
Equally encouraging was the level of engagement from intellectual property offices. “Seeing IP offices and organizations serving people who are print-disabled in the same room, invested and working together, was impressive. The amount of information shared at this workshop is not available anywhere else.”
Jamaica has already joined the Marrakesh Treaty and transposed its provisions into national law, but Harris is candid about the current situation. “Authorized entities in Jamaica are still at an early stage when it comes to producing local accessible materials,” he acknowledged.
That is beginning to change. The Jamaica Society for the Blind (JSB) is receiving training from the Accessible Books Consortium to follow the example of NALIS, with plans to start producing accessible local books. JSB is also a member of the ABC Global Book Service, an online catalogue of over one million accessible books, and the rollout of the Dolphin EasyReader app to its patrons is expected to significantly expand access.
For Harris, the goal is clear: to ensure future generations do not face the same barriers he did. “There is still so much information in Jamaica that I cannot access,” he said. “I hope that with this training and the materials we will produce, that will soon be a thing of the past.”
Ultimately, Harris envisions a future where accessible books are available on demand, anytime and anywhere, without the need for someone else to read aloud. “That’s why I’m excited,” he said. “When blind students are on a level playing field with their peers, their potential can truly shine.”
About ABC
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is a public-private partnership led by WIPO that, together with its many partners around the world, has had real impact over the past decade. Since its inception, the ABC Global Book Service catalogue has quadrupled in size to over one million titles thanks to the inclusion of the collections of participating authorized entities. ABC delivered a total of 225,000 accessible digital files from the ABC catalogue to persons with print disabilities through its authorized entities in 2024. In addition, through ABC’s training and technical assistance partners, more than 20,000 textbooks have been made accessible in over 40 low-income countries, improving access to education for thousands of young people. ABC was established in June 2014 to implement the goals of the Marrakesh Treaty.
About WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the global forum for intellectual property policy, services, information and cooperation. A specialized agency of the United Nations, WIPO assists its 193 member states in developing a balanced international IP legal framework to meet society's evolving needs. It provides business services for obtaining IP rights in multiple countries and resolving disputes. It delivers capacity-building programs to help developing countries benefit from using IP. And it provides free access to unique knowledge banks of IP information.