Sometimes words aren’t enough. Words on paper, the spoken word, the digital type that pervades our virtual lives. It’s not that there is a shortage of words, quite the opposite. But many words, life giving words, words that are like vessels of water for parched souls, are poured out on some and yet are withheld from others.
“It’s as if the Living Water has been dammed up.” says Judith, a friend and sister in Christ. “We hunger and thirst just like any other Christian”, she continues. What Judith is talking about is Christian content, books that you and I have access to freely. Yes, Judith knows how to read, in fact she has a voracious appetite for Christian books and more specifically God’s word, yet much of what is published, many of the words that are written are never within easy reach for Judith.
Judith wears rose-colored glasses…literally, as she is visually impaired and they help tone down the glare that our healthy eyes naturally adjust to. Judith suffers from Lupus, a physically debilitating disorder that has impaired her vision and her hearing, but not her spirit. Judith is one of the most spiritually attuned people I think I have ever met.
We met this morning at my office and I gave her an update on a project that I am leading at ECPA to help make more Christian content accessible for those with visual impairments and learning disabilities. I was excited to report to her that a small group of publishers including Intervarsity Press, Bridge-Logos and Barbour Publishing have begun working with our partner Read How You Want (www.readhowyouwant.com) to deliver current, life-changing Christian books to those who otherwise would not be able to read them.
She was excited too! As we sat and visited, I chronicled for her all of the technological advancements that have been made in the past two years that are enabling more and more content to be delivered in accessible formats. With tools like the Kindle, any book (with a publisher’s permission) can be read aloud utilizing its native text-to-speech feature. Apple, with its latest version of the iPhone has opened up a whole world of mobile computing to users who previously had to rely upon expensive third-party add-on software just to use the basic features of a smart phone. However, just like sighted people, blind readers are not all gadget freaks and techno-geeks. Many of them want to read a plain old book. As Judith so excellently put it, “a book never crashes.” A software or equipment malfunction is an inconvenience for a sighted person, you can only imagine if you can’t see what is going on.
With Read How You Want, publishers can make any of their books available in readable type styles up to 24 pt. in size. Additionally, books can be quickly converted to files that can be easily read by text-to-speech devices such as the Victor Reader Stream (an incredible device my wife uses hours each day) as well as by refreshable Braille devices that connect to a computer and convert text into raised dots on a rubber membrane for those who read in that format.
The coolest part, it doesn’t cost the publisher a dime! They don’t have to pay to convert their content, Read How You Want handles that. They don’t have to distribute/sell the content, Read How You Want does that too. In fact, publishers get a portion of the sale of each book sold in these formats, and by extension so do authors. Some publishers may think that licensing their content to large print publishers is sufficient. Unfortunately, 16 pt. enlarged type does not equal accessibility for the blind and/or learning disabled.
This new opportunity would break down the dam, it could open the floodgates and allow thousands of committed, yet thirsty Christians like Judith and my wife to partake of the life-giving words committed to paper by authors and publishers who have invested more than money in to bring to spiritually thirsty people.
It only makes sense doesn’t it? If you’re an author, editor, publisher, shouldn’t you consider this? I pray that you will, before the opportunity passes and the water continues to pass by thirsty souls.
