[Diabetes-talk] (no subject)

[cheryl echevarria]

On Thu, 21 May 2009, Freeh,  Jessica wrote:

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> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>
>
> CONTACT:
>
> <Chris Danielsen
>
> Director of Public Relations
>
> National Federation of the Blind
>
> (410) 659-9314, ext. 2330
>
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org
>
>
>
> Reading Rights Coalition Denounces Random House
>
>
>
> Random House Has Denied 15 Million
> Print-Disabled Americans Access to its Books
>
>
>
> New York City (May 20, 2009): The Reading Rights Coalition,
representing
more 
> than 15 million print-disabled Americans, has denounced publishing
giant 
> Random House, which has turned off text-to-speech on all of its
e-books 
> available for Amazon's Kindle 2 reading service.
>
>
>
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
said: 
> "When Random House turned off the text-to-speech function on all of
its 
> e-books for the Kindle 2, it turned off access to this service for
more
than 
> 15 million print-disabled Americans.  The blind and other
print-disabled 
> readers have the right to purchase e-books using this service with 
> text-to-speech enabled.  Blocking text-to-speech prohibits access for 
> print-disabled readers and is both reprehensible and discriminatory.
We
urge 
> President Obama, whose e-books are now being blocked from over 15
million 
> Americans, to either demand that access be restored or to move to a
publisher 
> who does not engage in discrimination."
>
>
>
> Dr. Cynthia Stuen, Senior Vice President of Policy and Evaluation for 
> Lighthouse International, said: "Having the technology available to
give 
> people with impaired vision and other print disabilities equal and
timely 
> access to the printed word should be celebrated and encouraged in a
civil
and 
> just society for all."
>
>
>
> Andrew Imparato, President and Chief Executive Officer for the
American 
> Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), said: "Random House is

> callously disregarding the right of American consumers with
disabilities
to 
> get access to the same content at the same price at the same time as
everyone 
> else.  Random House's decision to turn off the feature that makes this

> content accessible to millions of print-disabled Americans is a bad
business 
> decision with real human consequences and it must be corrected
immediately."
>
>
>
> Mitch Pomerantz, President of the American Council of the Blind, said:
"The 
> recent action by Random House disabling text-to-speech on e-books is
the 
> latest and most egregious discriminatory action against the nation's
15 
> million print-disabled individuals.  Random House either doesn't care
or 
> doesn't understand the impact this will have on those who would
otherwise 
> have equal access to books and other printed materials in the same
manner
as 
> our non-disabled peers.  We must work collaboratively to do everything

> possible to assure such access for this growing constituency."
>
>
>
> James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), said:
"KEI
is 
> disappointed that Random House is turning off text-to-speech on its
Kindle
2 
> e-books. In a world where access to knowledge is central to
everything, 
> Random House certainly understands this action will isolate and
marginalize 
> many persons with reading disabilities."
>
>
>
> K. Eric Larson, Executive Director and CEO of National Spinal Cord
Injury 
> Association, said: "All Americans have the right to equal access and
many 
> people living with paralysis use text-to-speech capabilities in order
to
gain 
> that access.  Our members are also consumers and "turning off"
text-to-speech 
> means that some will not buy books they would otherwise purchase."
>
> John R. Sheehan, Chairman of the Xavier Society for the Blind, said:
"The 
> Xavier Society for the Blind is committed to the notion that ALL books
should 
> be accessible to all people. When a book about Mother Teresa is among
those 
> whose text-to-speech functions have been disabled, we fear that we are
seeing 
> the beginning of a blanket cut-off of a function that should be open
and 
> available to all, especially (but not exclusively) to those with
visual 
> impairments or other problems that limit access to printed materials."
>
> When Amazon released the Kindle 2 e-book reading service on February
9,
2009, 
> the company announced that the device would be able to read e-books
aloud 
> using text-to-speech technology.  Under pressure from the Authors
Guild, 
> Amazon has announced that it will give publishers the ability to
disable
the 
> text-to-speech function on any or all of their e-books available for
the 
> Kindle 2 service.  Random House is the first publisher to turn off 
> text-to-speech on all of its e-books and thus deny the rights of 
> print-disabled people across America.
>
>
>
> The Reading Rights coalition includes the blind, people with dyslexia,
people 
> with learning or processing issues, seniors losing vision, people with
spinal 
> cord injuries, people recovering from strokes, and many others for
whom
the 
> addition of text-to-speech on the Kindle 2 promises for the first time
easy, 
> mainstream access to over 270,000 books.

Cheryl Echevarria