After listening to feedback, we’ve reviewed our proposed changes to our personal transcription services and looked at ways that we can urge others to be accountable for providing accessible formats. However, we can’t expect society to change overnight.
For this reason, personal transcription will remain free of charge for eligible customers for the next year, with RNIB covering the costs incurred where the service is provided via an external provider, A2i, an organisation steeped in accessibility for more than 20 years.
We realise that RNIB no longer providing this service itself may be disappointing for some of our customers. But our long-term aim is to focus RNIB’s transcription services on addressing remaining gaps where work is not transcribed at its source.
This interim arrangement allows us the time needed to bring together interested parties to commit to developing a sustainable long-term solution.
By working together, we can ensure that the transcription needs are met appropriately by the relevant organisations and people have access to the information they need, when and how they want it. This collaborative approach recognises we can’t achieve this alone and reflects our dedication to creating solutions that meet evolving needs.
We will also continue to deliver Large Print on Demand, which accounts for over 50 percent of personal transcription work, to existing customers.
You’ll continue to place your orders through us via the RNIB Helpline and we’ll work with A2i to fulfil your order as quickly and efficiently as possible. We’re working through this process and will give you further updates on when we’re ready to take orders through the RNIB Helpline.
RNIB remains deeply committed to providing braille services. From RNIB Bookshare supporting accessible educational materials and textbooks, to our library collection with access to more than 11,000 braille books, RNIB Newsagent offering braille versions of popular magazines and newspapers and our music library holding one of the largest collections of accessible format music for blind and partially sighted musicians.
RNIB’s campaigning and advocacy teams will also continue to work tirelessly with different sectors – from health to education – to build understanding that they have a legal responsibility to provide their blind and partially sighted customers with written material in their preferred accessible format. We’ll continue to support people with sight loss to assert their legal rights to receive information in accessible formats.
More information on this will follow on how RNIB can support you to direct your personal transcription work back to the organisation who provided it and we will work with you closely on this.