[Dtb-talk] Reading Rights Coalition Denounces Random House

Thu May 21 19:31:01 UTC 2009

Amazon says it will make the Kindle fully accessible.  Interestingly
enough, some authors and publishers argue that while the Kindle TTS is
currently poor enough not to affect much, the technology has the
potential to compete with audio books.  Since those who would shut out
the print disabled are arguing on potential problems, we can fight back
with potential access.  (grin)  Seriously, though, this is a very
important civil rights battle because property rights are being used to
limit or deny accessibility.  The Kindle presents the closest thing
we've ever seen to being able to purchase accessible books right off the
same bookshelf our sighted peers use.  I don't know about you, but I
would really, really like to take the "special" out of my book reading
habits.

-----
Jim Marks
jim.marks at umontana.edu
-----

-----Original Message-----
From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Bruce Toews
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:05 AM
To: Discussion of Digital Talking Books
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] Reading Rights Coalition Denounces Random House

Given that the Kindle is not a fully accessible product, is the whole 
thing not misleading? It implies that turning on the text-to-speech
would 
give all print-disabled people total access, which it would not.

Bruce

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

>
> []
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> For more information about the Reading Rights Coalition, please visit 
> <http://www.readingrights.org/>www.readingrights.org.  To sign our
petition, 
> go to 
>
<http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/We-Want-To-Read>http://www.thepetition
site.com/1/We-Want-To-Read. 
> If you are an author who supports our cause, please send your contact 
> information to <mailto:readingrights at nfb.org>readingrights at nfb.org.
>
>
>
>
>
> ###
> 
>

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