[Nfb-greeley] Fw: NFBCO NEEDS YOUR HELP TO MAKE KINDLE ACCESSIBLE

[melissa Green]

This is from Jessica.
As a chapter we need to particepate.  We may also be asked to join the 
afilliate in washington state to protest at at amazon headquarters in 
december.
Wen scott returns from geneva the decission will be made.
Read the below message and lest particepate as a chapter.
Many blessings,
melissa and Pj
At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and 
you know what you want.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Jessica Beecham
To: Jessica Beecham
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 11:06 AM
Subject: NFBCO NEEDS YOUR HELP TO MAKE KINDLE ACCESSIBLE


Hello NFBCO!


We need our PARENTS, STUDENTS, and SUPPORTERS to rally in support of our 
efforts to MAKE THE KINDLE ACCESSIBLE!  Below you will find a message that 
was sent from our National office explaining our efforts.  We would like to 
ask each of you to write a letter to Amazon.com, encouraging them to make 
Kindle and Kindle products accessible!


In the below text are two sample letters (one from an adult and one from a 
child).  These can be used as a template for your letter.  After your letter 
is written, please mail it to NFB at:


200 E. Wells St. at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230


Letters may be sent in print, braille, or both.  If you would like you can 
also e-mail your letters to jbeecham at cocenter.org and I will make sure that 
they go to the correct place.


After you have written and sent your letter, please let me know so that we 
can have an idea of how many letters have been sent from Colorado.  You can 
do this via e-mail atjbeecham at cocenter.org or by phone at 720-440-2632.  I 
will be out of the office from November 22-November 30 so please do use the 
above number if you wish to reach me.


Best Wishes


Jess
      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

-- 

Jessica Beecham
Chapter and Community Development Coordinator
National Federation of the Blind of Colorado
2233 West Shepperd Ave.
Littleton, CO 80210
jbeecham at cocenter.org
720-440-2632
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