Wales Council of the Blind

Service type: Accessible media

Services that provide or produce literature in accessible media such as audio or braille. Includes services that will carry out bespoke transcriptions for you.

Access2books - (Access2books)

This charity produces and publishes high quality early years books in dual format - giant print (75pt) & braille - with illustrations. The design enables braille or large print readers to read without obscuring the text or illustrations; and therefore gives children and adults the opportunity to read together, forming both educational and social relationships. Books can be purchased, and are also available for loan from some Welsh libraries.

Accessible Christian books and magazines - (Torch Trust)

Torch stocks a wide range of Christian books, magazines, Bible reading notes and the Bible itself. They are available in audio, large print or braille. Most of their books are available to borrow from their library. Many items are also available to buy through their shop.

All Formats Transcription Services - (Queen Alexandra College)

All Formats, based at Queen Alexandra College, provides a range of braille, large print and audio services. All Formats professional transcription services meets the needs of large and small organisations throughout the UK. Our expert staff include braille users who will ensure that information is produced accurately, efficiently and cost effectively.

Audible - (Amazon)

Audio books by subscription.

Audio Description for Theatre, Museums and Architecture - (Vocaleyes)

Audio description services for the cultural industries.

Audio Transcription - (North Wales Society of the Blind)

A bilingual (English and Welsh) audio recording service producing talking books and talking newspapers.

Audiobook lending service - (Listening Books)

Listening Books has over 10,000 wonderful fiction and non-fiction titles in our collection for children and adults, including many popular authors. We also have set texts and study guides and many of our educational titles are recorded in our professional digital studios and aren't available anywhere else! Titles can be streamed over WiFi on computers, laptops, tablets, or smartphones, downloaded to portable devices to listen to offline or on the go, or on MP3 CDs sent through the post.

Bag Books - multisensory books - (Bag Books)

Bag Books is the only organisation in the world publishing multi-sensory books specifically for people with learning disabilities. Each year we reach around 19,000 children and adults throughout the UK with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD), Severe Learning Disabilities (SLD) or severely affected by Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Booktouch - (BookTrust)

Booktouch packs are available for children who are blind or partially sighted. Children are entitled to this pack in addition to the two standard Bookstart packs. You can collect your free Booktouch packs from your health visitor, local health clinic, early years setting or local library. Bookstart schemes also work closely with these professionals and sensory impairment teams to help make sure everyone receives the packs best suited to them.

Calibre audio - (Calibre Audio)

Calibre Audio is a charity that provides a completely free for life audiobook service to everyone with a disability that makes reading print difficult or impossible. Members enjoy 13,000+ unabridged audiobooks with unlimited borrowing through digital streaming, download, or on memory stick. Visit the website to find out more and join.

Carmarthen Talking Newspaper - (Llyfrau Llafar Cymru/Talking Books Wales)

The Carmarthen Talking Newspaper is an audio collection of local news cherry picked from the Carmarthen Journal every week - with half an hour of English and half an hour of Welsh. The bi-monthly Carmarthenshire News in a Welsh and an English edition is sent out with the Carmarthen Talking Newspaper.

Chester & Flintshire Talking Newspapers - (Flintshire Talking Newspaper)

We are currently producing a single, online only, edition of the Chester and Flintshire Talking Newspapers. This will be posted each week under the Chester News section.

Clearvision children's library - (Clearvision)

ClearVision is a UK postal lending library of mainstream children's books with added braille. Our books all have braille (or Moon), print and pictures, making them suitable for visually-impaired and sighted children and adults to share. There are over 13,000 books in the collection, including tactile board books, simple stories for young children and stimulating books for newly fluent readers. We have fiction and non-fiction in uncontracted (grade 1) and contracted (grade 2) braille.

CustomEyes Books - (Guide Dogs)

Guide Dogs CustomEyes service produces large print books for children with vision impairment. These are tailor-made for each child or young person, but they are only charged the recommended retail price. The customised large print books open up a whole world of imagination and learning, by enabling visually impaired children and young people to read the same books as their sighted friends and classmates.

Dolgellau & District Talking Newspaper - (Dolgellau & District Talking Newspaper)

Weekly local news recordings in Welsh and English, plus bi-monthly magazine recording also in Welsh and English.

Forest Talk - (Forest Talk)

Forest Talk provides a weekly talking newspaper for blind and visually impaired people in the Forest Of Dean, Gloucestershire. We record local news items taken from the weekly Forest of Dean newspapers: The Forester and Wye Valley Forest Review. We complement this with a weekly ‘magazine’ of light-hearted articles, local interest items, poems and anecdotes. Each recording lasts approximately 90 minutes. Our recordings are distributed on USB memory sticks. We also supply each of our registered blind listeners with a free of charge USB ‘soundbox’ to enable them to listen to our recordings each week. Publications: The Forester (weekly); The Wye Valley Review (weekly); Western Daily Press (daily).

Free Personal Transcription - (RNIB)

Whether it’s the magical place your favourite book used to take you or special memories locked in letters and journals that you can no longer read, we understand the importance and power of the written word and how difficult it can be for you to read what you want, when you want. Our team can help with removing these barriers. They can help you to stay in touch with your local community, continue to attend social groups and activities, enjoy your favourite hobby, or widen your horizons through education and travel, by simply taking your print and converting it into a format you can read yourself.

Gwrando - (North Wales Society of the Blind)

Welsh language talking book service.

Herefordshire Talking Newspaper - (Herefordshire Talking Newspaper)

Hereford Journal; Hereford Times; Ledbury Reporter; Leominster Advertiser; Ross Gazette.

Local talking newspaper finder - (Talking News Federation (TNF))

The Talking News Federation website has a facility to search for local talking newspapers in your area by inputting your county.

My Sound Cinema - (Screen Language)

My Sound Cinema is the first online cinema dedicated to audio described content and designed for the visually impaired community.

Nat Talking Newspapers & Magazines subscription - (National Talking Magazines & Newspapers Association)

Subscribers to the service get access to an extensive range of newspapers, TV listings magazines and other top-selling and specialist magazines to read on CD player, mobile phone or laptop. Some publications for children are also available.

Oswestry Talking News - (Oswestry Talking Newspaper)

Oswestry TN records items from the local weekly newspaper "The Oswestry and Border Counties Advertiser" following the day of publication and post the USB memory sticks to our listeners on the same day. We supply the USB audio players. Each issue also contains short pieces from the "Shropshire" magazine, a list of the local deaths and information on road-works and street hazards. Items are sometimes included from The Chronicle (Tanat, Cain and Vyrnwy Valleys) and the Oswestry and Borders Chronicle. We are currently including information supplied by Infosound which is relevant to blind and partially sighted people . We also include a TED talk and the latest version of the BBC 'In Touch' program. Generally we try to keep our listeners informed about changes that will affect them.

Papur Sain Ceredigion Talking Newspaper - (Papur Sain Ceredigion Talking Newspaper)

News recordings in both Welsh and English for listeners within the County of Ceredigion and beyond. Publications: Cambrian News Publication (weekly); Golwg (weekly); Golwy (monthly); Y Cymro (weekly).

Pembrokeshire Talking Newspaper - (Pembrokeshire Talking Newspaper)

Western Telegraph (weekly). Our area covers the whole of Pembrokeshire, the borders of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire. Pembrokeshire Talking Newspaper is also available on smart speakers by saying "Alexa, enable Pembrokeshire Talking Newspaper". If you do not have an internet connection, you can make a telephone call to 0330 22 33 452 and use the keys on your phone to control the playback just like your normal memory stick player. The call is charged at the same rate as a normal phone call, so please check your included call times. You can also hear us on any mobile, tablet or computer https://listen.talking-news.info/pembrokeshire where you can change playback speed, download the edition or subscribe to our podcast. Please note you do not need to install an app to do this.

Personal Transcription - (RNIB)

Transcription service for blind and partially-sighted people. Formats offered: Audio in human voice or digitally generated synthetic speech, on CD, Daisy CD, or as an mp3 file; Braille; Large and giant print; Electronic text; Tactile diagrams and images; Accessible sheet music and musical scores - Modified Stave notation.

Powys Talking Newspaper - (Powys Talking Newspaper)

A weekly USB stick covering both Montgomeryshire (North Powys) and Brecon and Radnor (South Powys). Publications: Brecon & Radnor Express (weekly); Montgomeryshire County Times (weekly).

RNIB Bookshare - (RNIB)

RNIB Bookshare supports those who are unable to access print with a vast collection of accessible textbooks and materials to support the UK curriculum from early years to adult education. This free service, which can be accessed by teachers, students, and parents, has a range of accessible formats so books can be read electronically or adapted to suit personal reading needs, giving students the same educational opportunities as their peers.

RNIB Library - (RNIB)

The RNIB Library is the largest of its kind in the UK, and it's completely free, with over 60,000 items in the collection. This website is your gateway to the entire collection in one place: Audio, Braille, Music - there is so much to access, borrow and enjoy.

RNIB Newsagent - (RNIB)

We deliver more than 200 popular and best-selling publications, in a format to suit you. There are popular high street titles, specialist publications, children's magazines and the major daily and weekend papers.

RNIB Reading Services online library - (RNIB)

A digital download library, allowing subscribers to download talking books, talking magazines and podcasts directly to their computer, tablet or smartphone.

Sight Cymru Talking News - (Sight Cymru)

Free audio player and weekly news and magazines on audio.

Swansea & Gower Talking Newspaper - (Swansea & Gower Talking Newspaper)

Monthly Magazine (monthly); South Wales Evening Post (monthly).

Talking Books Wales - (Llyfrau Llafar Cymru/Talking Books Wales)

Talking Books Wales/Llyfrau Llafar Cymru produces audio versions of Welsh Language books (talking books). They have a catalogue of more than 1000 titles.

VIM Newsletter - (Visual Impairment Merthyr (VIM))

Quarterly newsletter giving information to residents of Merthyr County on activities for people with sight loss. Available in large print, audio CD and email.

VST Transcription Services - (Vision Support Trading Ltd.)

We combine the skills of our extensively trained transcribers with the latest advancements in technology, data security and print production to deliver a highly responsive, reliable and secure transcription service for blue-chip companies operating in the utility, financial, telecoms and public sectors.

West Shropshire Talking Newspaper - (West Shropshire Talking Newspaper)

The West Shropshire Talking Newspaper (WSTN) publishes a weekly memory stick every Friday containing a lively digest of news readings, forthcoming events, features, interviews and information. This is based on newspapers published in Whitchurch, Wem, Ellesmere, Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Church Stretton, Ludlow and Bishops Castle. Titles include the Shropshire Star, Shrewsbury Chronicle, North Shropshire Chronicle, Whitchurch Herald, Oswestry & Border Counties Advertiser, South Shropshire Journal and Ludlow Advertiser. A bi-monthly magazine comprises readings from the inkprint Shropshire Magazine. The service is free for anyone who qualifies to use the Articles for the Blind free post service and an application form can be downloaded from our website. Memory sticks can be played on personal computers, some digital radios and on dedicated players which can be issued on free loan within our area. Publications: Ludlow Journal; North Shropshire Chronicle; Oswestry & Borders Advertiser; Shrewsbury Chronicle; Shropshire Star. All monthly.