CommuniTape

CommuniTape is a volunteer group that reads the local community newspaper, the Kanata Kourier-Standard, onto audio tape and distributes it to visually impaired persons in the community. It allows people who would not otherwise be able to do so to keep informed of local events. There is no charge for this service. We currently have approximately 10 volunteers who record, duplicate, and deliver the tapes on a weekly basis to about 15 listeners.

CommuniTape was founded around 1986 by a number of volunteers, some of whom were visually impaired. The small group of volunteers put in place a system to record the tapes and have them duplicated and mailed to listeners. In 1998, CommuniTape went through a rejuvenation with the recruitment of new members and funding from the city of Kanata. We expanded our operation with the purchase of new equipment, more volunteer readers and more listeners. If you live in the Ottawa area and are interested in becoming a volunteer reader, feel free to e-mail me and I can give you more information. If you are a visually impaired person who would like to receive the Kourier-Standard on audio tape, feel free to call me as well.

Some information on how our operation works is available here for the benefit of other groups that are setting up similar services in other areas. I would be happy to discuss any aspects of our program with other groups.