[nabs-l] kendel from Amazon.com accessibility

[Chris Nusbaum]

Hi Anmol,

The NFB has been talking with Amazon about making their Kindel 
accessible, although Amazon hasn't done much working on the 
matter.  I haven't heard much from the Federation on this matter 
lately, has anyone else? The Kindel's accessibility was the 
reasoning behind the Authors' Guild protest back in 2009 and the 
founding of the Reading Rights Coalition.  Amazon put in 
text-to-speech technology in their Kindel 2 when it came out, but 
the Authors' Guild (for some reason, it makes no sense to me 
whatsoever) got up in the air (if you will) about it because they 
were worried that text-to-speech technology making their books 
accessible to the blind would adversely effect their royalty 
payments for the sale of their books.  Therefore, they didn't let 
Amazon make their books accessible, and Amazon agreed with them! 
Later in 2009, the Federation along with a lot of other 
disability rights groups formed a coalition that is still alive 
and strong today that advocates for the right of access to 
information for people with disabilities called the Reading 
Rights Coalition.  They held a big protest in front of the 
Author's Guild offices in New York City.  This was all started by 
the Kindel, and it's still not accessible!! This is one of the 
Federation's uphill battles, and I am optomistic that we will 
win! In the meantime, the Kindel, unfortunately, just won't work.  
But you do have many options, both in the form of hardware and 
software.  If you have a digital talking book player such as the 
Victor Reader Stream from HumanWare, the BookPort from APH, the 
BookSense from HIMS, or the NLS DTB player, you could use those 
to read books.  You could also try Bookshare or Learning Ally 
(RFBD.) If you want something mainstream and accessible, you 
could always go for the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.  You could 
also download Blio from KNFB Reading Technologies.  Blio is a 
mainstream eBook reading platform for both the blind and the 
sighted.  But the great thing about Blio is that you can rest 
assured that every book you download from the service is 
completely accessible to you as a blind person.  I have Blio, and 
love it! It fulfills the NFB's dream for eBook reading: same 
book, same time, same price, same quality! The only limitation to 
Blio is that it only runs on a PC, iPhone, or iPod Touch.  They 
just came out with a version for Android, but they're still 
trying to make it accessible.  Here's the link to Blio: 
www.blio.com.  Although we have Blio, I believe we need to keep 
working to make all the options sighted people have for reading 
books accessible to us, and that includes portable devices like 
the Kindle! I know enough about the Federation to know that we 
will keep fighting until we achieve this goal, and I'm determined 
that we will come out on top! As the Federation's "national 
anthem" says, "Glory glory Federation, our cause goes marching 
on!" :) OK, enough for my pep talk! Has anyone heard anything 
about the Kindle from the Federation's leaders or access 
technology department? If so, please keep us posted! Hope this 
helps!

Chris

 Chris Nusbaum

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance." -- Kenneth Jernigan (President of the National 
Federation of the Blind, 1968-1986.)

  Visit the I C.A.N.  Foundation online at: 
www.icanfoundation.info for
information on our foundation and how it helps blind and visually
impaired children in MD say "I can!"


Sent from my BrailleNote

----- Original Message -----
From: Anmol Bhatia <anmolpbhatia at yahoo.com
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:02:22 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [nabs-l] kendel from Amazon.com accessibility




--- On Mon, 9/26/11, Anmol Bhatia <anmolpbhatia at yahoo.com> wrote:


Hello,
I recently perchased a kendel from Amazon.com and have discovered 
that it is not accessible to me as a blind person.  Have anybody 
experienced simillar problem? I am wanting to return the product 
because it is not accessible and I want my full refund including 
shipping cost.  Can I ask for full refund including shipping cost 
based on the arguement that the product is not accessible for a  
blind person?
thanks
Anmol

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