2007 Speaker notes
April 2007 Conferences - Speaker notes
Use the following links to review the speaker notes and follow-up material from the April 2007 conferences.
Noel Duffy - The altformat campaign
With help from Sir Steve Redgrave, Sally Shaywitz, David Blunkett and even Martin Luther King, Noel Duffy looks at how an altformat service can be evolved to deliver vision and print impaired readers, accessible curriculum material, on time. The altformat campaign's focus is on people with print disabilities - people who are either visually or print impaired. Altformat is arguing that this group has the right to live in a transparent information age. That means that books, newspapers, pamphlets, signs, lecture notes, information at work, utility bills - that all communication is accessible.
Read Noel's speaker notes 
Books For All - Paul Nisbet
Paul Nisbet is a Senior Research Fellow at the Communication Aids for Language and Learning (CALL) Centre, at the University of Edinburgh. Paul has worked in the field of assistive technology for over twenty years and is part of the multidisciplinary CALL team providing assessment and support to children and staff in schools, with particular responsibility for the areas of specialist access to computers; tools to support students with specific learning difficulties; and specialised powered mobility.
Read Paul's speaker notes (PDF 2.9mb)
US National Alt Format Initiatives - Ron Stewart
Ron Stewart currently works in our community in a variety of voluntary capacities; Technology Advisor to AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability), chairs the AHEAD E-Text Solutions Group and is the Postsecondary Educational representative on the NIMAS Development Committee. Ron's notes from the 2007 conferences can be found here. Ron Stewart is an internationally recognized expert on policy development and institutional change concerning technology, disabilities and adult education.
Read Ron's speaker notes
RNIB - Where's My Book?
Rory Cobb from RNIB chaired all four meetings. Blind and partially sighted children throughout the UK are losing out on their education because they can't always get the textbooks they need. Rory's own session dealing with ‘Problems, Problems' looked at David Mann's excellent report on ‘Where's My Book' Rory alluded to the appalling availability of books for low vision students, with less than 4% of books available in alternative formats.
Read Rory's speaker notes
More speaker notes will appear here as they become available.