For years, Isaako Tuato sat quietly in class in Samoa, listening and grasping at the lessons through sound alone. Born with low vision, he didn’t have the books or resources other children had. “I could only follow the teacher’s voice,” he recalls. “For a long time, that’s all I had.”
That changed when the Samoa Blind Persons Association (SBPA) found him. They taught Isaako how to read Braille and gave him his first set of Braille textbooks. “That’s when everything changed,” he says. “Braille gave me hope. It gave me momentum.”
Now a staff member at the SBPA’s Braille Production Unit, Isaako is part of a growing movement in the Pacific to build a future where visually impaired people can access education, information, and opportunity on their own terms. Isaako was among 12 participants selected to take part in a technical, hands-on training in accessible book production held at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji, from 7 to 11 July.
The training, organized by the Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) and funded by the WIPO Australia Funds-In-Trust, was conducted by an expert from the DAISY Consortium and an expert from VisAbility, a library of the blind in Australia. Despite the Marrakesh Treaty’s global momentum, countries like Samoa and Fiji have not yet ratified it, which means producing accessible format books, like braille, audio, or e-text, still requires special permissions from rightsholders. And while the need for accessible materials is clear, NGOs across the Pacific have historically lacked the resources and technical training to produce them.
That’s what made the training in Fiji so significant. More than just a workshop, it was a bridge connecting organizations like SBPA, the University of the South Pacific, the Fiji Society for the Blind, and the United Blind Persons of Fiji with the latest tools and techniques in accessible publishing.
“This training is very practical and productive,” says Isaako. “I’ve learned so much, not just about braille, but about producing books in other accessible formats and using screen readers.” He now hopes to bring these skills back to Samoa to help SBPA diversify their offerings. Currently, most of SBPA’s users rely on braille, and while that has helped many students succeed in mainstream education, there’s still a gap. With the right training and support, Isaako believes SBPA could help fill that gap by producing other accessible formats.
“Our participation in this training marks a significant milestone in Samoa’s journey to strengthen accessibility for all citizens,” said Houlton Faasau from the Copyright Office of Samoa. “By building local expertise in producing accessible books, we are laying the foundation for greater educational inclusion and independence for people with visual impairments. It reinforces our commitment to creating a more equitable society where everyone has the tools they need to succeed.”
For Isaako, accessible publishing is a mission rooted in personal experience. “I know what it feels like to be excluded. I know what it means to get that one book that opens a door. I want to be the one who opens that door for someone else.”
As the training concludes, Isaako is already thinking ahead. “This is my first ABC training,” he says, “but I hope it’s not my last. There’s a lot of work to do.”