Since September 2002 people with a disability in the UK have the right of access to information free from discrimination, in the biggest shake-up of the law in 20 years. New legislation - the Disability Discrimination Act - has come into effect so that, for the first time, schools, colleges, universities, and youth and adult education services must ensure that they do not discriminate.

This means, for example, that all public facilities now have to take into considerations the needs of people with visual impairments regardless of age. This has led to libraries in Scotland and the UK in general installing software that makes viewing the screen less problematic for those with sight problems. Libraries are now used widely by the public for accessing the Internet.

In the late 1990s, Edinburgh City Libraries began a £1.8 million project to replace and update their computer and IT facilities. As part of the process Supernova was installed. Supernova works by either magnifying the screen or reading the screen contents via a speech synthesiser or braille display, depending on the degree of the user's sight impairment. Supernova was Edinburgh's preferred choice as it was the only access product to combine magnification and screen reading in one easy-to-use product.

The company who supplied it is Dolphin - www.dolphinuk.co.uk/cases/edinburgh.htm

Dolphin licensed the software on a multi-user scheme which enabled it to be used throughout all departments on the Libraries' Windows® NT systems. Now all twenty-five of the Community Libraries, the eight Central Library departments and the five mobile library vehicles run Supernova on all IT equipment used by the public. Features include: On-line Help, Magnification up to 32 times, Integrated software speech synthesiser with more than seven languages including Czech, German and Italian. Works on all Windows® 95/98 and Windows® 2000/NT 4.0 platforms

In October 2002 the Department for Education & Skills committed almost 1.5 million pounds to provide over 711 UK online centres with a package of access technologies. The project aims to benefit students drawn from groups experiencing speech, language or communication difficulties, hearing or visual impairment or dyslexia. It will increase participation and access to learning, improve the users' quality of experience and enable centres to demonstrate their inclusive approach required by the Disability Discrimination Act.