The Alternate Format Textbook Program

The Alternate Format Textbook Program assists students with print disabilities to obtain e-text or audio formats of textbooks. For the purpose of this program, students with ‘print disabilities’ are those who have:

• visual disabilities
• difficulty processing print due to a learning disability
• difficulty with focus due to short term memory loss
• difficulty physically handling books and/or turning pages   

It can take between six and eight weeks to access alternate format materials. Instructors, students and Student Disability Services all have a role to play in the arrangement of alternate format text provision. Students who require text materials in alternate format must contact Student Disability Services to meet with an advisor (and/or the Alternate Text Coordinator) to discuss their text needs at least six weeks before the start of term. For text materials to be provided, the student must:

• be officially registered in the course for which the text material is required
• provide documentation of a disability which demonstrates a barrier to accessing traditional print material
• provide proof of purchase of the text material in question

Instructors are requested to inform their departments and the bookstore of their text selections in a timely manner, ideally 6-8 weeks prior to the beginning of class, in order to provide adequate lead time for the production of alternate format materials for the student. Student Disability Services will verify that students receiving alternate format materials are legally entitled to receive such materials because of copyright regulations. 

For more information about the Alternate Format Textbook Program, please email fallais@uwindsor.ca