This page explains how people with no useful vision can get access to standard print material, and also provides information about the specialist and mainstream products available.
Alternative format publications
Firstly, it is good to check whether the book you are looking for is available in an alternative format with the National Library Service. There are over 40,000 titles in braille, DAISY and large and giant print.
This year we launched our Focus on Books campaign. This campaign, backed by bestselling authors and top publishers, aims to get Large Print books available on the high street. There are now over 80 books to choose from and are available from bookshops nationwide. See Focus on Books for a full list of titles.
We produce the Big Print newspaper which is the UK's only large print newspaper. It contains a comprehensive round-up of the week's national and international news and is accompanied with a TV and radio guide for the coming week.
For children, we also have a ways of reading booklet which is a guide to help you find the reading material that meets a child's individual needs whether for pleasure, for information or for school work.
What can you do if you find printed information difficult or impossible to read?
First of all, banks and the Government are legally obliged to provide information in alternative formats such as large print, braille or audio. The Disability Discrimination act (DDA) also states that companies should make "reasonable adjustments" for disabled people.
So if you struggle to read their letters, contact them and ask them what they can do for you. The more people who request this type of service, the more companies are willing to build the systems to support them, as they can establish the demand for them.
Lighting
Making the best use of lighting is important for everyone. Good lighting is essential and yet it is often overlooked. Making some simple changes to lighting within your home can be done quite easily with general and task lighting, and will not necessarily cost you a lot of money.
RNIB and Thomas Pocklington Trust have produced the Improve the lighting in your home booklet (Word, 104KB) with ideas, tips and hints on how to make the most of the light in your home.
Products
There are some simple products that can help make reading easier. Typoscopes are plastic reading guides which mask most of the page and leave a small cut out section making it easier to focus on a line of text. Reading stands hold a book open so you can read hands-free whilst helping to encourage correct posture.
Magnification
There is a huge range of different magnifiers including hand held, pocket sized, mounted on a stand and electronic. For general information about the types of magnifiers available, please read our magnifiers factsheet.
If you need high levels of magnification and find glass magnifiers difficult to use then a video magnifier may help. Please read our video magnifier factsheet (Word, 70KB) for more information.
Electronic Reading aids
Reading aids are used to scan and translate printed text into a computer readable file which can then be read with synthetic speech, magnification software or a braille display. For more information please read our electronic reading aid factsheet (Word, 72KB)
Transcription centres
RNIB has a number of Transcription centres around the UK who specialise in converting information into alternative formats for both Commercial and individual customers. For further information on commercial work please visit our Business Services page.
For short documents we have a web-based service - WebDocs. This turns short Microsoft Word documents like letters, leaflets, lists of services into Braille, Large Print and Audio CD.