ONCE and ANELE have been working together for 14 years.

ONCE and the Asociación Nacional de Editores de Libros y Material de Enseñanza (ANELE) have renewed the collaboration agreement for the adaptation of textbooks to people with visual impairment or with other difficulties in accessing printed text.

The objective is to establish and regulate the collaboration between both organizations to promote educational inclusion and access to information and culture for the visually impaired. In this way, the publishers associated with ANELE undertake to provide ONCE with copies of the textbooks published by them in digital format so that they can be adapted for use by people with blindness or severe visual impairment.

The agreement has been signed by José Moyano, president of ANELE, and Andrés Ramos, Deputy Director General of social services for People.

«From ANELE we have been working for many years with various organizations of people with disabilities so that our books and educational materials can be adapted to their needs. Facilitating access to books and educational materials is a way to help eliminate barriers and promote the inclusion of all people,» explained José Moyano, president of ANELE.

For her part, Carmen Bayarri, director of the ONCE Bibliographic Service, emphasized that «the renewal of this commitment is excellent news for the inclusion of people with severe visual impairment. It is about promoting access to education. It is also a good example for other publishers with whom we could collaborate in this same line, so fruitful and necessary».

With the signing of this agreement, both entities fulfill their commitment to promote quality and inclusive education for people with disabilities and promote the evolution of the educational community.

Inclusive education

Nearly 7,400 students of different educational stages are enrolled in more than 99% of ordinary schools, following the official curriculum. ONCE offers complementary attention to achieve inclusion in all areas by the Specific Educational Attention Teams. Therefore, it is necessary that teaching resources can be adapted to Braille and accessible formats as soon as possible and with the necessary quality. For their part, the publishers belonging to ANELE consider that textbooks are a tool that promotes inclusion and, therefore, fundamental in the teaching process.

Thanks to this agreement, students with blindness or visual impairment will have the possibility of having the books prescribed by teachers at the same time as the rest of the students, since the process of adaptation to Braille, carried out by the ONCE Bibliographic Service, is speeded up considerably, helping blind students to have their textbooks in time.

Educational content accessible to all

ANELE brings together publishers dedicated to the generation of educational content in all formats and media. The companies belonging to ANELE represent 90% of the market. It collaborates with national and regional educational administrations in the implementation of educational legislation and its corresponding curricular developments by publishing books and educational materials adapted to these for use by teachers and students at all stages: Pre-school, Primary, Compulsory Secondary, Baccalaureate, and Vocational Training.

As a member of the International Publisher Association, it participates in the Accessible Books Consortium, which promotes the production of electronic books and other digital publications in accessible formats such as Braille, audiobooks, or large print versions for the blind, visually impaired or other people with difficulties in accessing printed text.

Bibliographic adaptation

The ONCE Bibliographic Service is in charge of adapting in Braille, embossed and audio, the texts needed by people affiliated to the Organization. In addition to books, it is essential to adapt other texts such as notes for students, exams, assessment tests, etc., and elements such as maps, plans, board games, etc. It also publishes and adapts its publications every month to bring various subjects closer to blind people.

The ONCE Digital Library has a collection of more than 75,000 titles of all kinds. During 2022, more than 13,000 blind people accessed the BDO to complete 433,000 downloads of various readings. It can be accessed by both blind and deafblind people, as devices such as Braille lines or SD card readers facilitate the process.

Text and photo: ANELE