Research for the Royal National Institute of the Blind found only 12 per cent of maths and eight per cent of science GCSE textbooks were available in a format which could be used be visually-impaired children.
The problem is even worse when it comes to dictionaries or atlases with not one of the books most widely used by children taking their GCSEs available to children with sight problems.
Children's fiction is also in short supply with nine out of ten books never printed in Braille or large print forcing schools to spend hours
photocopying, enlarging and retyping pages.
The RNIB claims that while charities and schools spend a lot of time making their own copies of popular books in Braille and large print this can delay access for blind and partially-sighted pupils leaving them feeling disadvantaged.
RNIB spokesman Ian Bland said: "The message is clear. The 2,000 blind and partially-sighted children in Yorkshire and Humberside are losing out. It is nothing short of a scandal that these children are being denied something as basic as the right to read.
"We're not asking for something extraordinary, just for blind and partially-sighted children to be able to read the same book, at the same time as sighted children.
"The Government needs to set up a system within which publishers and organisations such as RNIB can work together to make more books available for blind and partially-sighted children.
"In particular, RNIB is calling on the Government to act urgently to set up a national co-ordinated scheme for providing school books for blind and partially sighted children."
The RNIB is launching its "Right to Read Declaration" demanding an end to the shortage of books for children with sight problems.
It has already attracted support from more than 40 authors and celebrities including Yorkshire TV gardener and novelist Alan Titchmarsh as well as Ruth Rendell, Maureen Lipman and Fay Weldon.
Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson became the first author to promise equal access to her books earlier this year.
Her latest novel in the Tracy Beaker series was the first to be launched in Braille, talking book, audio and large print formats at the same time as the standard version.
She said: "Reading means all the world to me and I can't imagine what it would be like to be denied this pleasure. I want us all to work together with the common aim of getting our books out to absolutely everyone who wants to read them."

Book choice difficult for cataracts family

CASE STUDY
THE challenge for parents Oliver and Christine Wiggins is not encouraging their children to read but finding books in the right format.
Their four children – Matthew, Robert, Catherine and Andrew – were all born with cataracts and have varying degrees of sight loss which leave them needing large print books.
Matthew, Robert and Catherine are all pupils at St Matthias CE Primary School in Burley, Leeds, and Mrs Wiggins said all of them receive invaluable help from teaching assistants.
Charities also offer versions of popular books that have been enlarged but Mrs Wiggins said this means her children are often limited to whatever has been produced.
She said: "This is true particularly for my eldest who is not that keen on reading but he loves non-fiction with facts and figures. It's hard to find those in large print versions."
Mrs Wiggins said the children also sometimes felt self-conscious about needing special treatment.
She added: "The children are all very bright and like learning, but I think that they make do with what's available to them in large print or struggle to read standard print books.
"Robert is a real bookworm and will argue until he's blue in the face that he can read standard sized print, though I know that he really struggles with it."
Robert, nine, said: "I really like reading stories and comics and my favourites are Horrid Henry and the Beano. It would be great if there were comic books that were a bit bigger, but still had pictures in them, so I could read them more easily."
james.reed@ypn.co.uk