[csaa-forum] 'Reading Equality: Law, E-Books & Print Disabled'/Paul Harpur/24 Nov, 2pm USYD

[Gerard Goggin]

Advancing Reading Equality: Discrimination, Copyright and Equality: Law Opening the E-Book for the Print Disabled
a seminar with Dr Paul Harpur (UQ)<https://law.uq.edu.au/profile/1110/paul-harpur>
with response from Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum AO (USYD)<http://sydney.edu.au/law/about/people/profiles/ron.mccallum.php>

Thurs 24 Nov 2016, 2-3.30pm – rvsp at eventbrite<https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/advancing-reading-equality-discrimination-copyright-and-equality-law-opening-the-e-book-for-the-tickets-29233351742>
Law Common Room<http://sydney.edu.au/law/about/campus.shtml>, level 4, New Law Building, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney


About the seminar:
For most of human history reading equality has been an unrealised and impossible dream for people who are unable to read and handle standard books, including people with blindness, quadriplegia or dyslexia.  Technological advancements have revolutionised what is possible.  While books have been born digital for decades, almost exclusively they have been published in standard paper formats.  Books are now born digital and are being distributed as E-Books, via E-Libraries and read on E-Readers.  There is now no reason that people with print disabilities cannot enjoy full access.  People with print disabilities can use adaptive technologies to read digital content, unless that content is published in ways that blocks the use of adaptive technologies.

This presentation speaks to a monograph that contributes to disability rights scholarship and legal advocacy.  It builds on international and domestic notions of digital equality and rights to access information.  The core thesis of this monograph is that technology now creates the possibility that everyone in the world, regardless of their abilities or disabilities, should be able to access the written word.  Why then is there still a book famine where 5% to 7% of the world’s books are available to people with print disabilities in wealthy, advanced economies, and less than 1% in the majority of countries

About the speaker:
Dr Paul Harpur BBus (HRM), LLB (Hons), LLM, PhD is an internationally recognised disability rights scholar, lawyer and advocate.  He was admitted as a lawyer in 2004 and completed his PhD in 2009.  Dr Harpur has tenure at the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland where he is a highly acclaimed educator and successful researcher.  He has received research funding from domestic and international sources and has one monograph with Cambridge University Press in press (2017), published over 40 academic articles, and consulted for various government and industry bodies, including the International Labour Organization.  In addition to being a full-time senior lecturer and part-time special advisor on employment laws, Dr Harpur is a former Paralympian, silver medallist in the 2003 International Blind Sports Association World Titles and at one point was the fastest blind man in the world in athletics over the 100m.

About the respondent:
Ronald C McCallum AO was the foundation Blake Dawson Waldron Professor in Industrial Law in the Faculty of Law of the University of Sydney. Ron is the first totally blind person to have been appointed to a full professorship in any field at any university in Australia or New Zealand. In January 2011, he was appointed to an Emeritus Professorship in the Faculty of Law of the University of Sydney.
On 3 September 2008, the Australian Government nominated Professor McCallum as its candidate for election to the inaugural United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Professor McCallum was elected as one of twelve persons who served on the inaugural Committee of Experts. At its inaugural meeting in February 2009, Professor McCallum was made General Rapporteur for the Committee. At its second meeting in October 2009, Professor McCallum was unanimously elected as 2010 Chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Professor McCallum is now a Vice-Chairperson of the CRPD Committee.

Further details:
This event is co-organized by Prof Gerard Goggin (Dept of Media & Communications) & A/Prof Kimberlee Weatherall (Sydney Law School).

The Law Common Room is on level 4 of the New Law Building, across the bridge in the Wedge. Venue location details at: http://sydney.edu.au/law/about/campus.shtml

The event will be captioned. Accessible parking is underneath the building - in the New Law car park. For other accessibility requirements or queries, contact Gerard Goggin - gerard.goggin at sydney.edu.au

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Gerard Goggin
ARC Future Fellow
Professor of Media and Communications
Department of Media and Communications
University of Sydney

e: gerard.goggin at sydney.edu.au<mailto:gerard.goggin at sydney.edu.au>
p:  +61 2 9114 1218
m: +61 428 66 88 24
w: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/staff/gerard_goggin.shtml

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.cdu.edu.au/pipermail/csaa-forum/attachments/20161108/80638bb0/attachment.html