<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style>
<!--
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math"}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma}
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline}
span.EmailStyle17
{font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D}
.MsoChpDefault
{font-size:10.0pt}
@page WordSection1
{margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in}
div.WordSection1
{}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Good morning everyone,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Here is our press release on the Kendal.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D">Susie</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none; border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt; padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> Nfbnet-members-list [mailto:nfbnet-members-list-bounces@nfbnet.org]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>David Andrews<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, December 04, 2012 6:09 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> nfbnet-members-list@nfbnet.org<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Nfbnet-members-list] National Federation of the Blind Condemns Amazon’s Push to Put Kindle E-books in Schools</span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br>
<b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br>
<br>
CONTACT:<br>
</b>Chris Danielsen<br>
Director of Public Relations<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
(410) 659-9314, extension 2330<br>
(410) 262-1281 (Cell)<br>
<a href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org">cdanielsen@nfb.org</a><br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>National Federation of the Blind Condemns Amazon’s
<br>
Push to Put Kindle E-books in Schools</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><i>Blind Americans Will Protest at Amazon Headquarters</i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <br>
<b>Seattle, Washington (December 4, 2012):</b> In protest of a recent push by Amazon.com to put Kindle e-books,
<a href="https://nfb.org/images/nfb/video/misc_2012/kindle_on_ios-1.wmv">which are inaccessible to blind students</a>, into K-12 classrooms across the country, members and supporters of
<a href="http://www.nfb.org">the National Federation of the Blind</a> will conduct an informational picket at the company’s headquarters on Wednesday, December 12. The action comes on the heels of Amazon’s launch of Whispercast, a system designed to allow teachers
and school administrators to push Kindle e-books to different devices, theoretically allowing the sharing of content among devices brought to school by the students. Kindle content, unlike some other e-book products, is not accessible to blind students, even
on devices that are themselves accessible to the blind, such as personal computers and iPads. This is because Amazon makes Kindle content available only to its own proprietary text-to-speech engine, if at all, rather than to accessibility applications of
the reader’s choice. Furthermore, the limited accessibility features that Amazon has implemented do not allow for the kind of detailed reading that students need to do in an educational setting. Although the books can be read aloud with text-to-speech, the
student cannot use the accessibility features of his or her device to learn proper spelling and punctuation, look up words in the dictionary, annotate or highlight significant passages, or take advantage of the many other features that Kindle devices and applications
make available to sighted students. Kindle e-books also cannot be displayed on Braille devices, making them inaccessible to blind and deaf-blind students who read Braille.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.nfb.org/marc-maurer-bio">Dr. Marc Maurer</a>, President of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/NationalFederationoftheBlind">
the National Federation of the Blind</a>, said: “Amazon has repeatedly demonstrated utter indifference to the recommendations of blind Americans for
<a href="http://www.nfb.org/kindle-books">full accessibility of its Kindle e-books</a> and failed to follow the best practices of other e-book providers. Blind Americans will not tolerate this behavior any longer. While we urge Amazon to correct the many
obvious deficiencies in its implementation of accessibility and remain willing to work with the company to help it do so, we will oppose the integration of these products into America’s classrooms until Amazon addresses these deficiencies. Putting inaccessible
technology in the classroom not only discriminates against blind students and segregates them from their peers, but also violates the law.”
<br>
<br>
For more information on this important issue, please visit <a href="http://www.nfb.org/kindle-books">
www.nfb.org/kindle-books</a> .<br>
<br>
The National Federation of the Blind needs your support to ensure that blind children get an equal education, to connect blind veterans with the training and services they need, and to help seniors who are losing vision continue to live independent and fulfilling
lives. To make a donation, please go to <a href="http://www.nfb.org">www.nfb.org</a>.<br>
<b> <br>
</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt; text-align:center">
<b>###</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b> <br>
<br>
About the National Federation of the Blind<br>
</b>The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest, largest, and most influential nationwide membership organization of blind people in the United States. Founded in 1940, the NFB advocates for the civil rights and equality of blind Americans, and
develops innovative education, technology, and training programs to provide the blind and those who are losing vision with the tools they need to become independent and successful. We need your support. To make a donation, please go to
<a href="http://www.nfb.org">www.nfb.org</a><br>
<br>
<br>
</p>
</div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and subject the violator to civil
or criminal penalties. If you believe you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.
</body>
</html>