The Lviv regional branch of the NGO “Ukrainian Union of the Disabled – ALL” is completing the cultural and artistic project “Overcoming the past. Ukraine in events and personalities”
Within this project, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, it was possible to print 640 copies of books in Braille. And also – to produce three audio books and adapt three full-length feature films for blind people by creating an audio description for them.
In particular, the following are printed in Braille:
– the book of Ukrainian historian Yaroslav Hrytsak “Overcoming the past. Global history of Ukraine” (each copy of this publication contains 8 parts in Braille);
– the historical and biographical work of Olga Opanasenko “Lyubomyr Huzar. Outstanding Ukrainians. People who made history” (each copy contains 2 parts in braille);
– the book by Anna Tetelman and Kateryna Shapovalova “Encyclopedia for the curious. We are growing up as Ukrainians” (run of 60 copies in two parts).
“The publication about Lyubomir Huzar has already been sent to all corners of Ukraine – ordinary public libraries, special schools for visually impaired children, online libraries for the blind, etc. The book is significant, especially considering this year’s anniversary of the Blessed memory of Lyubomyr Huzar – the 90th anniversary of the Master,” said the NGO “Ukrainian Union of the Disabled – USI”.
The project team used several innovations that were not foreseen. In particular, the “Encyclopedia for the Inquisitive” contains not only several color tactile drawings that a blind person can “see” by touch, but also descriptions of all the drawings located in the “sighted” edition. The organization used this architecture of a book for blind children for the first time: part of the drawings are transferred on special thermal paper in relief, including their descriptions, the majority of the rest of the images are in audio descriptions placed directly in the text of the book printed in Braille.
The actress of the National Theater named after M. Zankovetska, the well-known audio descriptor of Oleksandr Bonkovska together with blind experts and consultants.
The same books were also created in audiobook format. They were voiced by the actress of the First Ukrainian Theater Lesya Shkapyak together with the sound engineer Volodymyr Svatenko. “The books are of good quality, easy to listen to and attractive not only for the blind, but also for everyone who does not have access to a printed text,” noted the Ukrainian Union of Disabled Persons – ALL.
Also, three films – “Assassination”, “Invincible”, “Vladika Andrey” – have been produced audio description, and now they have become completely accessible and understandable for people with complete loss of sight.
The audio description was written and recorded by the artist of the band “Picardian Tertsia” and the well-known audio describer Yaroslav Nudyk, together with the sound engineer Yaroslav Bosy and blind experts. The premiere screenings of two tapes have already taken place. The screening of the last tape – “Vladika Andrey” – is scheduled for October.
“The project team managed to do the almost impossible: in less than 5 months, they did what really required at least a year of work. To initiate several creative innovations, such as, for example, descriptions of images in books in Braille, to attract a considerable team of actors, artists, editors, artists, and experts to realize the ambitious goals of the project. In addition, it was possible to optimize costs and slightly reduce the project budget. Currently, the final finishing works on the editing of the audio book by Y. Hrytsak are underway, and several hundred books by this author are being printed in Braille. Copies of the “Encyclopedia…” will be sent to the final addressees next week,” concluded the Ukrainian Union of the Disabled – ALL.
We will remind you that 360 copies of books for blind children were printed in Lviv earlier within the framework of the “Saving book: audio books and books in Braille” project.