Yes, and: Implementation of access to cultural materials for persons with disabilities
Date
2023-01-19Embargo Date
2025-01-17
Author
Rekas, Abigail P.
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Abstract
This thesis examines the right to access culture for persons with
disabilities and proposes a new approach to implementing that
right. Part I lays out where this right can be found and why it is
so important. It engages with Article 30 of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which
guarantees the right to access cultural materials on an equal
basis with others and requires that IP not be a discriminatory
barrier to this access.
The thesis then moves to an examination of what cultural
materials are precisely. Specifically, it looks to see whether
cultural materials, protected by the intellectual property
doctrine of copyright, are property. It shows that a reasonable
parallel between property and works protected by copyright can
be drawn.
Policy and technological interventions, including the Marrakesh
Treaty, are explored to show that the present state of affairs is a
patchwork of exceptions and regulations and that people fall
through the cracks and do not have access on an equal basis with
others.
Part II of the thesis looks at why patchwork legislation persists. It
is argued that accessibility is caught in a paradigmatic loop,
where it has become difficult to step outside the self-completing
circle of logic. From there, it makes a recommendation that
works that have been opened to the public are akin to places of
public accommodation. This brings them into the purview of
accessibility regulation governing places open to the public and
applies a single accessibility standard to all works. An example of
how this might be accomplished in the United States Code is
given. Finally, the thesis considers the potential drawbacks of
adopting this approach, weighing these against the possible
benefits. Ultimately it is determined that this approach is
ultimately a favorable one.