[Ncabs] Your Thanksgiving Homework

[sharon_newton]

Dear Alan:

Thanks for this update.  Will do!

Sharon Newton
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan A. Chase" <aachase1 at gmail.com>
To: "North Carolina Association of Blind Students List" <ncabs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 6:23 PM
Subject: [Ncabs] Your Thanksgiving Homework


Oh yes, folks I'm that evil teacher that doesn't mind giving homework over
a long Holiday weekend.  Be sure to cross your T and dot your I.  See
below.....


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

-- 
*Alan A. Chase, M.Ed.*
Special Education Teacher, Wake County Schools
Program Coordinator, Envisioning Youth Empowerment Retreat
President, North Carolina Association of Blind Students
Secretary, Governor Morehead School Alumni Association
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