The new AI-powered platform means students with disabilities can read the same materials as their classmates, on the same day
PALO ALTO, CA / ACCESS Newswire / September 29, 2026 / Benetech, the nonprofit for accessible education, today launched Bookshare Plus, an AI-powered platform that turns worksheets, PDFs, scanned pages, images, and STEM materials into accessible formats in minutes, work that has often taken weeks. Bookshare Plus is available now to K-12 schools, districts, and higher education institutions.
Bookshare Plus is built on Bookshare, the world's largest online library of accessible reading materials. Its nearly 1.5 million titles serve people with print disabilities, including blindness, low vision, and dyslexia. Readers can access each title in audio, braille, or customizable text. More than 6,000 U.S. school districts have used Bookshare in the past three years.
Bookshare Plus reaches the material a library can't hold: the handouts and assignments teachers create themselves.
The need is widespread. In a 2023 Bay View Analytics survey, 77 percent of K-12 teachers said they create their own classroom materials to supplement or replace a textbook. Adapting those materials for students with disabilities can take a teacher more than seven hours a week. When a handout can't be read by a screen reader, the student waits, and learning suffers. Bookshare Plus is built to end that.
"For more than 25 years, Benetech has worked to make reading books accessible at scale. As content types change in the classroom and everywhere, accessibility is inadvertently backsliding for students," said Ayan Kishore, CEO of Benetech. "Bookshare Plus changes that. What Bookshare did for books, Bookshare Plus will do for all other learning content. The student who reads with audio or a screen reader can now do the same assignment or read the same handout, at the same time, as their classmates."
A teacher, student, or staff member uploads a document, and within minutes, it opens in the Bookshare reader as an accessible version. Students can listen as they read with premium natural voices and use a built-in Reading Companion.
"Teachers piloting Bookshare Plus told us it gave their students access to assignments they couldn't read before, and that the Reading Companion guided them toward answers instead of handing them over," said Matthew Yip, Vice President of Product and Engineering at Benetech. "Most couldn't imagine going back to how they made materials accessible before. With today's launch, independence is available to every student, including those who learn best by listening."
Premium natural voices are already changing how people read on Bookshare. Since the voices soft-launched in the Bookshare mobile app in July, time spent reading per reader has risen 16 percent, and new users who discover the voices in their first month read 64 percent more titles.
Bookshare Plus arrives as public schools and universities prepare for updated Title II rules under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The rules require their websites, apps, and digital documents, such as PDFs, to be accessible. The first compliance deadline is April 2027.
Bookshare Plus is supported by General Motors, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs, Cisco Foundation, the Esther and Pedro Rosenblatt Foundation, and the Peninsula Endowment. It was made possible with early support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and the Severns Family Foundation.
Bookshare Plus is available to schools, districts, and higher education institutions through subscription. To request a demo, visit www.BooksharePlus.org.
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Press Contact: George Mastoras
georgem@benetech.org
(914) 489-5282
Benetech is a nonprofit advancing access to information for people with disabilities who face barriers to reading and learning. Its flagship program, Bookshare, is the world's largest online library of accessible reading materials, serving people with print disabilities in schools, workplaces, and communities worldwide. A 2026 Forbes Accessibility 200 honoree. For more information, visit www.benetech.org.
SOURCE: Benetech
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/business-and-professional-services/benetech-launches-bookshare-plus-making-any-classroom-document-a-1228405
