[nfb-talk] Fwd: National Federation of the Blind Commends Amazon on Unveiling of New Accessible Kindle

[Buddy Brannan]

And, on the flip side of this, I submit the following response (followed by my original questions), from Amazon. By no means is the access currently available good enough for full, or even IMO acceptable, use of the Kindle. It's a nice start, but let's hope they continue and don't stop with this.

Hello,

Thanks for writing to us with your comments.

Voice Guide lets you navigate your Kindle with spoken menus, selectable items, and descriptions. For example, when you open a book, Kindle speaks your current location and how far you’ve read.

Presently we don't have the features like enabling the voice guide and TTS features without sighted assistance, navigate or read by smaller increments in text to speech, voice guide or text to speech work in the Web browser, enabling text to speech for the books which have text to speech option disabled.

I've sent your comments to the Kindle team for consideration. We're regularly working on improvements to your Kindle experience. Customer feedback like yours helps us continue to improve the service we provide. 

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Did I solve your problem?

If yes, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=yagwhvtx3324198336

If no, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=yagwhvtx3324198336

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. 

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Madhu Y
Amazon.com
Your feedback is helping us build Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company.
http://www.amazon.com/your-account

---- Original message: ----

Hi,

I'm very interested in the Kindle 3, but as a blind user, I have a few concerns. Before I outline those concerns, I would like to say that I, for one, am happy to purchase if Amazon can make a commitment to our community to make accessibility improvements where warranted. 

As you might suppose, my concerns directly relate to the text to speech and voice guide features:

1) Will voice guide speak as you type? Will it read options as they are navigated and selected? Can you select books with it? Documentation is definitely lacking in this area. With voice guide enabled, will it be possible to use Kindle as outlined in the rest of the manual, without looking at the screen at all?

2) Do menus wrap? Would it be possible to enable the voice guide and TTS features without sighted assistance? If not, I would recommend that it should be. 

3) With text to speech reading of Kindle ebooks, is it possible to navigate or read by smaller increments? In other words, can I navigate a book by word, or even by character? If I need to have an unfamiliar name or term spelled, is this possible? These features are essential if Kindle is to be used by a student in a classroom environment. 

4) Does voice guide or text to speech work in the Web browser? Can it be used, not only to read Web content but to navigate to that content? Is it possible to browse the Kindle store to purchase books, again, using only text to speech and voice guide? 

5) Will it be possible to enable text to speech for blind users on books where it is by default disabled? If not, is there some way to know whether a book is TTS-enabled before purchasing it? I would hate to buy a book, only to find I am unable to read it. 

In short, I would like some assurance that Amazon is working towrd real accessibility to the Kindle, and not just a token effort that amounts to little more than a toy.
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY




--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY



On Jul 29, 2010, at 1:28 PM, David Andrews wrote:

> 
>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> CONTACT:
>> 
>> Chris Danielsen
>> 
>> Director of Public Relations
>> 
>> National Federation of the Blind
>> 
>> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
>> 
>> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
>> 
>> <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> National Federation of the Blind Commends Amazon
>> on Unveiling of New Accessible Kindle
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Baltimore, Maryland (July 29, 2010): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) today commended Amazon on the unveiling of a new, accessible Kindle.  Amazon announced Wednesday that the new Kindle will come equipped with a voice guide that reads all menu options aloud so blind and other print-disabled people can navigate the device menus.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "We commend Amazon on the unveiling of a new Kindle that blind and print-disabled people can use.  In order to compete in today's digital society, blind and print-disabled people must be able to access the same reading technologies as the sighted.  The National Federation of the Blind has long been urging Amazon to make its reading device accessible, and we are pleased that our efforts have come to fruition."
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> In June 2009 the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from deploying Amazon's Kindle DX electronic reading device as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students.  The Kindle DX featured text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students.  The menus of the device were not accessible to the blind, however, making it impossible for a blind user to purchase books from Amazon's Kindle store, select a book to read, activate the text-to-speech feature, and use the advanced reading functions available on the Kindle DX.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For more information on the National Federation of the Blind, please visit <http://www.nfb.org/>www.nfb.org.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ###
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> About the National Federation of the Blind
>> 
>> With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States.  The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy, education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and self-confidence.  It is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.
> 
>       David Andrews and long white cane Harry, dandrews at visi.com
> Follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dandrews920
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