Ensure equal access to books for visually impaired children
The Issue
Improve access to accessible physical books for children with visual impairments and other print disabilities
I am calling on the UK Government to work with publishers, libraries, schools and booksellers to improve access to accessible physical books for children with visual impairments and other print disabilities. This should include improving the availability of giant print, large print, braille, tactile books and other accessible formats through mainstream bookshops and libraries.
My 6-year-old son has a visual impairment and is passionate about reading. Like every other child, he should be able to walk into a bookshop or library, browse the shelves and choose a book to take home. Instead, we often have to rely on specialist providers, charities or digital technology because accessible physical books are difficult to find.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 19 million children under the age of 15 worldwide live with a visual impairment, including around 1.4 million who are irreversibly blind. Many more children have other print disabilities that make standard printed books inaccessible.
Schools work incredibly hard to support children with visual impairments. My son’s school enlarges and adapts books by printing pages specifically for him, and we are incredibly grateful for that support. However, loose printed pages are not the same as holding and reading a professionally published book. Accessibility shouldn’t stop at the classroom door.
Accessible formats such as giant print, large print, braille and tactile books already exist, but they are often difficult to find through mainstream bookshops and libraries. Giant print books, in particular, remain extremely difficult for many families to source despite being essential for some children with visual impairments.
I am not asking every bookshop to stock every title in every accessible format. I am asking the Government to work with publishers, libraries and booksellers to make accessible books easier to publish, find, borrow and buy, so that children with visual impairments and other print disabilities have the same opportunity as every other child to discover, choose and enjoy books.
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The Issue
Improve access to accessible physical books for children with visual impairments and other print disabilities
I am calling on the UK Government to work with publishers, libraries, schools and booksellers to improve access to accessible physical books for children with visual impairments and other print disabilities. This should include improving the availability of giant print, large print, braille, tactile books and other accessible formats through mainstream bookshops and libraries.
My 6-year-old son has a visual impairment and is passionate about reading. Like every other child, he should be able to walk into a bookshop or library, browse the shelves and choose a book to take home. Instead, we often have to rely on specialist providers, charities or digital technology because accessible physical books are difficult to find.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 19 million children under the age of 15 worldwide live with a visual impairment, including around 1.4 million who are irreversibly blind. Many more children have other print disabilities that make standard printed books inaccessible.
Schools work incredibly hard to support children with visual impairments. My son’s school enlarges and adapts books by printing pages specifically for him, and we are incredibly grateful for that support. However, loose printed pages are not the same as holding and reading a professionally published book. Accessibility shouldn’t stop at the classroom door.
Accessible formats such as giant print, large print, braille and tactile books already exist, but they are often difficult to find through mainstream bookshops and libraries. Giant print books, in particular, remain extremely difficult for many families to source despite being essential for some children with visual impairments.
I am not asking every bookshop to stock every title in every accessible format. I am asking the Government to work with publishers, libraries and booksellers to make accessible books easier to publish, find, borrow and buy, so that children with visual impairments and other print disabilities have the same opportunity as every other child to discover, choose and enjoy books.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on 16 July 2026