Skip to main content
Accessible Textbooks for All Accessible Textbooks for All

Global Links

  • Visit UNICEF Global
  • English
  • Español
Accessible Textbooks for All Accessible Textbooks for All
    • Quick links
      • ADT guidelines
      • ‘Learn My Way’ Reader
      • Accessible ePub guide
      • Methodology for piloting countries

Main navigation

  • Global Initiative
  • Guidelines & Standards
  • Pilot Countries
  • Resources
Search area has closed.
Search area has opened.
SearchClose

Search UNICEF

Accessible Digital Textbooks for All

Accessible digital textbooks for learners with and without disabilities

Learn more

The initiative

UNICEF/2019/Gregory

Welcome to the UNICEF Global Portal on Accessible Digital Textbooks for All

UNICEF and its partners are driving an innovative solution called Accessible Digital Textbooks for All, to make textbooks available, affordable and accessible for children with disabilities in all contexts. We cherish the printed word, but it isn’t always accessible to everyone. Children with disabilities remain one of the most marginalized and excluded groups and, for them, gaining access to quality education can often be challenging. By adding specific features to digital formats and following Universal Design for Learning principles, textbooks can be made accessible to students who are blind or have low vision, to those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and to those who have intellectual, developmental or learning disabilities, among others. And it doesn’t stop there: these features can enrich the learning experience for all children.

The initiative brings writers, publishers, teachers, organizations of persons with disabilities, technologists and ministry of education representatives together to develop the guidelines needed to produce textbooks in accessible digital formats. They jointly set standards for features like narration, sign language, interactivity and the audio description of images. The Accessible Digital Textbooks for All initiative improves access to education, helping all children to learn and thrive together.

The global portal is designed to promote knowledge sharing and to support the development and implementation of the Accessible Digital Textbooks for All initiative.

All children learning and thriving together!

The UNICEF Children with Disabilities Programme Division, based at Headquarters in New York, is currently leading this project.

How to use the portal

The global portal is designed according to AA accessibility guidelines and includes links to information on the subject on the internet. It offers a starting point for research by providing links to the main resources online.

Browse

Students pose for photograph inside their classroom at a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh, India
Programme
Accessible digital textbooks for all Initiative

Accessible digital textbooks for learners with and without disabilities

Explore our work
Group of school children at an inclusive school in Nairobi, Kenya
Page
Partners

The UNICEF partners for this initiative

Visit the page
Document
Requerimientos para el usuario Español

Get the document
Document
User Requirements English

Get the document
George Ntakimanye a 14-year old visually impaired student uses a laptop computer.
Article
Accessible remote learning during COVID-19

Immedate approaches to accessible remote learning during COVID-19

Read the story
Panel of experts for inception meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay
Article
Uruguay Pilot

ADT for primary education

Read the story
Three school girls holding the video book CDs
Article
Nicaragua Pilot

Video Books in Nicaraguan Sign Language

Read the story
Group photo of the participants in the inception meeting in Nairobi, Kenya
Article
UNPRPD multi-country initiative in Africa

Promoting inclusive education: accessible digital textbooks for learners with and w/o disabilities

Read the story
A block in Kamurasi Public School
Article
Kamurasi School Success Story

Assistive Devices improve learning for children with disabilities in Uganda

Read the story
George Ntakimanye a 14-year old visually impaired student in S.1 Gulu High School.
Article
Gulu High Success Story

Students with who are blind or have low vision excel in Northern Uganda

Read the story
One of the pupil’s at Kamurasi P/S P.4 navigates the laptop in the Mobi-station during the lesson.
Article
Uganda Pilot

Accessible digital textbooks pilot in Uganda

Read the story
Three school girls stand outside
Article
Methodology for piloting countries

Step-by-step for better results

Read the story
Three boys in a school in Uganda using laptops
Article
ePub and accessibility links, guides and templates

Links to selected ePub and accessibility resources

Read the story
Screenshot of the Finding Activity with a picture of a farm with animals and people as well as a sign language video
Article
Accessible Interactive Activity Templates

Templates for interactive activities in ePubs

Read the story
Load more items

Footer

Home
  • GLOBAL INITIATIVE
  • Guidelines and standards
  • Pilot countries
  • Resources

Footer Secondary

  • Legal

Footer tertiary

  • Report fraud, abuse, wrongdoing