Accessibility in Literature

For most of us (especially if you’re on this website), reading, writing, and speaking are sacred indulgences. They can provide a haven from the outside world, a place to vent or work through problems, perhaps a source of income, or a passion project. 

Whatever literature means to you, I think we can all agree that it should be accessible to everybody. Nobody, no matter what, should be denied access to texts, particularly as we know how life-alteringly magical art can be. 

The world of literature may seem pretty accessible to some. However, in all the multi-faceted expressions, forms and worlds of literary pleasure, there are certainly severe oversights or inconsiderations that we at Written Off strive to challenge. 

So, if you’re a writer, work in the publishing industry, or are one of our avid readers, we have provided some things to keep an eye on when investing in literature. By being aware of the different needs of others, we can all begin to challenge inequalities within the publishing sphere. 

Books 

More often than not, books are physically inaccessible. Whilst dyslexia-friendly books do exist, it's evident from just picking up any book around you that most of them are not and do not have an alternative. 

A great way around this oversight is ebooks. They often come with settings that adapt to a dyslexic person’s needs. For example, the text may have the option of using the Open Dyslexic font, which looks like this:

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Reading tablets are a great option for this. However, it’s impossible for every dyslexic person to have the funds for such a luxury item. 

A great way to overcome this is by offering dyslexic font prints, eg, using the Open Dyslexic font, or a bigger font with fewer words on each page, or a different colour background. Many dyslexic people find reading easier when the text is not black on white or vice versa.

Another good option is an audiobook, and some publishers may have the resources to offer a spoken version of each book. 

Every Cherry Publishing is a pioneer of accessible books for children, offering versions in braille, signed videos, sensory stories, and simplified versions of classic tales. According to the founder, Emma Steel, young people should have the right to access cultural reference points such as classic fiction, even with a disability. 

Written Off Publishing advocates for making literature accessible, and with the scale we have right now, we do all we can to accomplish this. 

Events 

Events seem like a great in-person option for advertising, networking, and learning. But for some, they are inaccessible. Many venues are just not wheelchair accessible. That’s the simple truth. Additionally, smaller venues will not have accessible toilets, asking all customers to use the stairs. This is not just disregarding the needs of those in wheelchairs but also many other forms of disability, e.g. disabilities that affect fatigue, movement, bowel frequency etc. It’s a part of every venue that should be at the bare minimum accessible, but is often not.  

Furthermore, in a perfect world, venues would have microphones compatible with hearing devices, earplugs for folks who struggle with sensory stimuli, and more comfortable and diverse seating arrangements. Next time you are at an event, take a look around and consider this.

Regarding networking, special consideration needs to be given to neurodiverse folks. Networking in itself is a terrifying hellscape, as I’m sure we can all agree, but if one has social anxiety or a social disability, it can be nearly impossible. Publishers need to develop online tools and platforms to make careers in literature accessible to everybody. 

Spoken Word

While this is becoming more common practice, spoken word can be very intense and thus should always come with content warnings beforehand. This is unlike a published book or film, where there is often a list of all warnings online. It is needed clearly before or in any media accompanying the event. A single word or theme can ruin somebody’s entire week. While it is not your responsibility to look out for everybody’s triggers all the time, when presenting intense work to a large number of strangers, one needs to be able to consider the experiences of their audience. Nobody wants to be caught off guard when consuming literature; thus, we must work to make all forms accessible. 

Using your privilege

Marginalised voices need help more than ever in the culture-war climate. Indie publishers, including Written Off, are excellent sources to find these voices. Consider investing in literature from black-owned businesses, LGBTQIA+ writers, publishers who champion disabled voices, and women writing in male-dominated genres (to name a few examples). It’s a brilliant way of discovering hidden gems whilst investing in media that really needs it.

Another way to help uplift others’ voices is by using your privilege. Depending on your position, this can be in significant ways, e.g., hiring minorities to tell their stories, donating to kickstarters for marginalised creatives, etc. Or it can be in smaller, more personal ways, such as shouting out a writer on your socials, calling out hate speech or microaggressions, or choosing wisely where to spend your money (extra points for turning any J.K. Rowling books into scrap paper).

There are plenty of other ways in which the literary world can improve its accessibility and it must be a constant journey if we are to progress. It is beyond the scope of this blog to list every way in which this might happen, but I hope I have led you to ask questions about your own practice or experience with literature.