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The National Broadcast Reading Service Inc. (NBRS), a non-profit Canadian success story, was established in 1989 on the recommendation of Parliament's Standing Committee of the Status of Disabled Persons. The committee's report, "No News is Bad News," stated that vision- and print-restricted Canadians must have equal access to published news and information.
In 1990 the CRTC licensed a reading service, called VoicePrint Canada, to be operated by NBRS. By December 1 of that year VoicePrint went on the air, broadcasting on cable TV (on which it often was coupled with an alphanumeric video channel service: the stock market channel or Broadcast News, for example) and cable radio. Today, VoicePrint Canada can still be accessed through cable TV (on the secondary audio program of CBC Newsworld), but it's also available on satellite and the Internet.
The 5 million print-restricted people VoicePrint is set up to reach include blind, low-vision, senior and other Canadians with limited or no access to print.
NBRS, headquartered in Toronto, also operates AudioVision Canada, the country's pre-eminent supplier of "video description" products and services. It's a process that many people have said does for people with no or low vision what closed-captioning does for people who are deaf - make film and other forms of entertainment more accessible.
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