Vision Australia has a free (audio) library service available for people with a print or perception disability.
The service is conducted from its headquarters in Kooyong, Melbourne.
It is necessary to complete a membership form, which can be obtained from its website (visionaustralia.org). The membership form, amongst other things, seeks information about the type of reading material the person likes, including books, newspapers, and magazines.
All of the materials are posted (Australia Post participates in this scheme, and the postage, both ways, is also free) in the form of audio CDs. An audio book, for example, will always be entirely contained within one CD. It will be in the “DAISY” format, which is a special format for the print handicapped. It has certain characteristics including that it will always open where it was closed, even if you listen to another CD in the meantime.
The library will send out the audio CDs based on the profiling information that has been provided by the member. For example, the member might have specified that they do not like science fiction books, but like crime books and biographies. However, if the member is able to navigate the library’s website they can select titles of their choice. This could of course be undertaken by a friend or carer.
The library also supplies the CD player (again free!). This will play the DAISY formatted CDs, but will also play all other audio CDs.
Go to Vision Australia’s website for further information about this very worthwhile service.