A CHARITY supporting visually impaired people in South Tyneside is backing calls for more books in alternative formats.
Sight Service is supporting the Royal National Institute for the Blind's (RNIB) Right to Read campaign.
It urges the Government to ensure more books are published in formats for visually impaired people to read.
The RNIB says 75,000 people in t
he region risk exclusion from the National Year of Reading 2008, because they can't read 96 per cent of books only available in standard print.
They never make it into formats like large print, audio, Braille or electronic, which cater for blind, partially sighted, dyslexic or other print-disabled people.
And those available in alternative formats are often published long after they are available in bookshops, with the cost of audio books often five times the price of a paperback. Partially sighted Margaret Waters, of Harton, South Shields, is supporting the campaign.
The 52-year-old said: "I know plenty of people who use audio books and complain they have to wait months for a copy after the standard book is released.
"Visually impaired people sometimes feel they don't receive the same information as quickly as everyone else.
"Having these books available is a vital service."
Susan Khan, service manager for Sight Service, said: "We support the RNIB on this.
"People without any sight rely on audio books, which also don't come out at the same time."
She added that while many large-print books are the same price as standard print copies, visually impaired people often shop online for a copy, with costs stacking up from postage and packaging.
Very few text school books are produced in formats for blind and partially sighted children.
In March, Sight Service representatives joined the first ever children's lobby of Parliament, with more than 100 of these youngsters demanding their right to read.
Julianne Marriott, RNIB campaigner, said: "RNIB believes that people with sight problems have the right to read the same book, at the same time, at the same price as everyone else.
"We need the Government and publishers to work together to end this book famine."
It is believed there are about 3,000 people with sight problems in South Tyneside, and about two million people nationally.
These figures do not include elderly people who lose their sight.
Anyone who has a problem with sight, call Sight Service in South Tyneside on 456 0546.
To support the RNIB Right to Read campaign, visit www.rnib.org.uk/righttoread.
