The Hachette Book Group is teaming with Essential Accessibility, a turn-key online tool developed to help the disabled community easily access online content. Essential Accessibility software gives disabled people access to a variety of special keyboard shortcuts, hands-free activation and speech recognition functionality.
By subscribing to Essential Accessibility, companies can make their websites much easier to use by the disabled community. Essential Accessiblity offers a package of software tools that do not require any kind of modifications to a company’s website. Once a firm has subscribed, disabled individuals can download a free software package that will give their keyboards an expanded range of easy-to-use keyboard and mouse shortcuts. Companies are also asked to display the Essential Accessibility icon—an image of wheelchair and a computer—as a link to the Essential Accessibility website.
David Young, chairman and CEO of Hachette Book Group, said "our websites are rich with information. Providing the disability community with easy access to our sites helps foster the connection between reader and author. We are proud to be the first publisher to work with Essential Accessibility in this initiative and to provide a more comprehensive service to our physically disabled customers.”
Users can click on the Essential Accessibility link and be taken to a site that will allow them download software tools that will help individual who have problems with typing, seeing a webpage or using a mouse. The system offers Read Aloud functionality, Hands-free movement tracking and many other features to help the disabled access online content.
Simon Dermer, managing director, Essential Accessibility, said, "Part of enjoying literature as a past-time is learning more about the authors and Hachette Book Group is fostering an inclusive environment for those with disabilities to enjoy such activities. Hachette Book Group, along with other organizations that are joining this initiative, is setting a new standard as they build a bridge to the disability community.”
