[Mn-parents] FW: Template letters to Amazon's Jeff Bezos

[Jennifer Dunnam]

The following comes from Chris Danielsen.  We need as many letters as
possible, so please help by sending one. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Chapter-presidents [mailto:chapter-presidents-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of cdanielsen8 at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 4:14 PM
To: chapter-presidents at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Chapter-presidents] Template letters to Amazon's Jeff Bezos

Hello everyone:

As you know, we are asking members and supporters to write letters to Jeff
Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, insisting that he make Kindle content
accessible in light of the fact that Amazon is aggressively pushing Kindle
books to schools. Some of you have asked for template letters that you can
use to help write letters of your own. Attached and pasted below are two
template letters, one from a child and one from a parent, teacher, or other
interested adult. Please encourage your members to personalize these letters
and send them to us. (Please send them to the NFb, even though they are
pre-addressed to Amazon. Our plan is to "deliver" the letters during our
protest set for December 12, 2012.) Please print the letters and send them
to my attention at National Federation of the Blind, 200 East Wells Street
at Jernigan Place, Baltimore MD 21230. You may send the letters in print,
Braille, or both. If you cannot send physical letters, please e-mail letters
to me at cdanielsen at nfb.org and we will print and emboss the letters for
you. Please stay tuned to all NFB e-mail lists, since we will be putting out
more materials on this topic. Thanks as always. 
Together we will win this battle and gain access to Kindle books for blind
children.

Sincerely:

Chris Danielsen
Director of Public Relations
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND

Mr. Jeff Bezos
Amazon.com, Inc.
410 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, Washington 98109
Dear Mr. Bezos:
I have become aware that Amazon.com is undertaking a massive effort to
deploy its Kindle e-readers and Kindle books to K-12 schools across the
United States.  Amazon has built a system called Whispercast that allows
teachers and school administrators to distribute Kindle content to devices
other than Kindles.  The problem with all of these plans is that neither the
Kindle devices nor the book files used in conjunction with them are
accessible to students who are blind or who have other print disabilities.
Even if a student has an accessible device like a personal computer, laptop,
or iPad, he or she still will not be able to gain full access to these
books.  Although the books can be read aloud with text-to-speech, the
student can't use the access 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.
This is because Kindle books are designed so that the text is not exposed to
screenreaders, like JAWS for Windows or Apple's VoiceOver application, which
are used by blind students.  This also means that the text of Kindle books
can't be displayed on Braille devices.  Listening is not reading; if
students who can't read Braille cannot access Kindle books in Braille, they
are not reading.
Since school districts have an obligation under federal law to purchase or
deploy only accessible technology and content, Amazon must either make
Kindle books accessible or cease and desist from its efforts to have them
used in the classroom.  I sincerely hope that you will make the vast library
of Kindle books available to all students, including those who are blind.
If you do, you will be making history by providing more access to books for
blind students than they have ever had in all of human history.
Sincerely,
xx

Mr. Jeff Bezos
Amazon.com, Inc.
410 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, Washington 98109
Dear Mr. Bezos:
My name is xx.  I am in the xx grade and attend xx school.  I am writing to
you to ask that you please make your Kindle books accessible to me.  I need
to have access to the same books and textbooks that my classmates are using
so that I can do my assignments and keep up with my classmates.  I know that
you can make this happen.  If you do, I'll get the same education as all of
my friends.  If you don't, I won't get the same education, won't learn to
read properly, and won't have the same opportunities as my sighted friends.
Please make Kindle content accessible to me as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
xx





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