Macmillan Learning and Fondazione LIA win the ABC 2020 Awards

We are happy to share that W3C Members Macmillan Learning and Fondazione LIA are the winners of the Accessible Books Consortium’s 2020 International Excellence Awards for Accessible Publishing.

Macmillan Learning was recognized in the publisher category as the first Global Certified Accessible (GCA) publisher producing products and learning materials in accessible formats for students with different kinds of vision impairment.

Fondazione LIA was recognized in the initiative category for their achievements in improving the accessibility of e-books and other digital publications for people who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print-disabled.

“Macmillan Learning feels strongly that knowledge sharing is important, and for us accessibility speaks to the core of our mission – to improve lives through learning. The needs for accessible educational materials are universal and extend beyond an area of focus for one publisher in one country. We look forward to continuing to be part of a solution that enables students of all abilities to have a great learning experience.“
Rachel Comerford, Senior Director, Content Standards and Accessibility, Macmillan Learning

“We are really pleased that the work done by the LIA Foundation to create awareness on accessibility in the publishing industry has been recognized. This is a further stimulus to pursue our goal of creating a fully inclusive publishing ecosystem where all readers have the same opportunity to choose what they want in the publishers’ catalogues. A special thanks goes to all our stakeholders, the Italian Publishers Association and the Italian publishers, the Italian Blind and Visual Impaired Union, the Italian Dyslexia Association and the Biblioteca di Monza, without whose precious collaboration this would not be possible.“
Cristina Mussinelli, Secretary General, Fondazione LIA

This prestigious award is a noted event in the field of accessibility, in a context where over 253 million people worldwide are blind or have severe to moderate vision impairment and more than 90% of these are resident in developing countries, where the World Blind Union estimates that people who are blind have only a one in ten chance of going to school or getting a job. The lack of accessible books is a very real barrier to getting an education and leading an independent, productive life, and a reason why the Accessible Book Consortium seeks to recognize leadership and achievements in advancing the accessibility of e-books and other digital materials.