[Dtb-talk] Reading Rights Coalition Denounces Random House

Fri May 22 20:33:49 UTC 2009

Think of it as progress versus regress.

When Amazon brought out the Kindle 2 with TTS, but no access to the
menus, the progress we needed was to get the menus accessible with the
tts as well.  Actually, Amazon was quite amenable  to doing this.  That
was looking like we'd get some progress.

Then the Authors Guild came along, and they pressured Amazon into giving
publishers the option of shutting off the tts on their Kindle 2
editions.  That is regress.  That's why the April 7 protest.

And now Random House has done this -- they're causing even more regress
on access to the Kindle 2.

And so, there are indeed several angles or - it might be more accurate
to use a military metaphor - multiple fronts keep popping up.  They all
need to be addressed if we're going to get the progress we need.  Amazon
may turn on the menus in the Kindle 2 for access by the blind, but the
Authors Guild and at least Random House are working very hard to limit
what we get access to with the Kindle 2 at such time as the menus become
accessible.

The alternative, obviously, would be to sit on our hands and make no
comment while the largest publishing house in America shuts us out.  Not
my choice.

Dan
Daniel J. Burke
Assistant Director/Coordinator
Disability Services for Students
Emma B. Lommasson 154
The University of Montana
Missoula, MT 59812

www.umt.edu/dss/

406.243.2243 voice/text
406.243.4424 direct line
406.243.5330 fax

-----Original Message-----
From: dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:dtb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Gerry Chevalier
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 3:01 PM
To: 'Discussion of Digital Talking Books'
Subject: Re: [Dtb-talk] Reading Rights Coalition Denounces Random House

Yes, I was referring to another NFB press release a few weeks ago about
that
very point.
 It would seem they are just coming at the issue from multiple angles -
this
release is pointing at publisher and the other was at Amazon.

-----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.
>
>
>
>
>
> ###
> 
>

_______________________________________________
Dtb-talk mailing list
Dtb-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/dtb-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Dtb-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/dtb-talk_nfbnet.org/gerry.chevalie
r%40
shaw.ca

_______________________________________________
Dtb-talk mailing list
Dtb-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/dtb-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Dtb-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/dtb-talk_nfbnet.org/burke%40mso.um
t.edu