It's Right to Read week this week and the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) is after your help to end "book famine". According to the charity, 96% of books never make it into large print, audio or braille, and blind and partially-sighted people often have to wait months or years for the few books which do eventually appear in a format they can read.
The situation is particularly harsh for children - not only are very few textbooks available in braille or large print (and not one of the dictionaries or atlases most used by 14-16-year-olds), children feel socially excluded when they can't read the latest Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket at the same time as their sighted mates.
The RNIB has rounded up over 40 authors to kick off the Right to Read declaration, including Ruth Rendell, Andrea Levy, AS Byatt and the children's laureate Jacqueline Wilson (whose Starring Tracy Beaker is the first book to be launched in large print, audio, braille and RNIB talking book at the same time, and the same price, as the standard print text).
Now it's after readers to do their bit. If you'd like to support the campaign, go online and add your name to the declaration. Simple as that.
