Copyright is important to uphold the creativity and right of an author. However, everyone should have equal access to buy a book or check one out from the library. For someone with a reading disability or visual impairment, a standard book isn’t enough.

That’s why the Chafee Amendment (17 U.S.C. §§ 121 & 121A) exists. It lets authorized entities like the National Library Service provide books in braille, audio, or digital talking formats even if an author is unable to convert a book in print on their own. More info here: Chafee Amendment – Library of Congress.

Yes, text-to-speech exists for those ebooks through Amazon’s Kindle, but let me tell you, it’s no substitute. The robotic voices stumble over words and sentences in ways a human reader never would. Speechify is fantastic but unless there is a full file, page by page scans are cumbersome. Accessibility isn’t a favor, it’s equal access. Real readers, real voices, real understanding. That’s what everyone deserves.