Many of us have embraced the joys of reading during these isolating times. But for those with a print disability, this simple pleasure is often denied.
Coquitlam Public Library is working to change that. Thanks to grants, it has acquired 18 Victor Reader Stratus 4M Daisy MP3 players, specifically designed for use by people with "print disabilities", including blindness, impaired vision, and dyslexia.
The Library has long provided access to a special collection of audiobooks on CD in the DAISY format, provided by InterLINK, as well as through CELA, The Centre for Equitable Library Access. DAISY is designed to be a complete audio substitute for print material. However, the device needed to play these special discs may be beyond the financial reach of many potential users. Fortunately, with the arrival of the 18 Victor Readers, the Library can help.
The Victor Reader is a machine featuring large, tactile, high-contrast keys, a built-in speaker and headphone jack and self-voicing controls, making it the ideal player for loan to customers using the Library’s Home Service. It includes features unavailable on a regular CD player such as the ability to access digital and downloadable content such as eBooks, the ability to convert a computer document to speech and the ability to automatically resume reading a book at the same spot, regardless of how many other books are played in between.
To borrow a reader or for more information, contact the Library’s Home Service at 604-554-7334 or email outreach@coqlibrary.ca. Or visit our accessibility services webpage.
The purchase of this assistive technology was made possible by grants from the Government of Canada’s Emergency Community Support and the Coquitlam Foundation as well as the CAO Foundation. The Library is grateful for this assistance.