[Nfbf-l] FW: Bias against blind book lovers by Marc Maurer

Thu Apr 16 00:46:27 UTC 2009

Hello everyone,
I received this message in my inbox and am forwarding it onto the entire
list. I have been giving a lot of thought to the entire issue now being
raised regarding the authors guild and electronic books. On one hand, I am
all for equal access to electronic books as it means we can access books as
soon as they are made available electronically. But on the other hand, I'm a
bit confused as to what exactly it is that we are opposing. I really don't
want to assume anything as we all know where that can lead <grin>. 

If I read the article below correctly, it seems like we, the NFB, are trying
to tell the authors guild to give us access to electronic books through the
use of the new Kindle 2(available from Amazon). If this is the case, then I
think we need to take a step back and look at how we are approaching the
issue. The Kindle 2 is the most inaccessible device I have ever put my hands
on. It is clearly designed for the sighted person who wants to read
electronic books. It has a small screen at the top of the device. Underneath
the screen are rows and rows of buttons, most of which feel identical to the
touch. it comes in a really nice leather case that makes it act and feel
like a real book, albeit a thin one.

If we are saying that we want to be able to use this device to read
electronic books via its text-to-speech capabilities, then definitely count
me out. I fail to see any way a blind person can easily, or even marginally,
use this device without a lot of sighted assistance. Furthermore, has anyone
actually heard the speech synthesizer used to verbalize the text? From my
own experience, most text-to-speech capabilities on devices intended for
sighted users is fair at best. There are certainly exceptions, but in most
instances, the quality is just not what we have all come to expect in
applications such as screen readers for both the Windows and mobile phone
platforms.

Ok, I'm  now going to go ahead and assume something and hopefully not get
into trouble for doing so <grin>. I think that what we are trying to say is
that we want access to electronic books without having to jump through any
hoops such as  a registration process that is meant to prove that we are
blind, to having to pay extra just so that we can access an e-book with
speech,  to who knows what else. I fully believe in this as it just isn't
fair that we should have to do anything extra just to be able to access a
brand new book as soon as it hits the market, just like our sighted peers. 

The only other thing I'm not totally clear on are the actual e-books
themselves. Electronic books have been around for some time in one format or
another. In fact, I have some co-workers that have accessed electronic books
that were in Adobe PDF format.  I also know of the electronic books that can
be accessed using Microsoft's e-book reader using devices such as the PAC
Mate. So what makes these books different? Is that the text-to-speech is
built into the book?

Thanks to anyone who can help clarify this both for me and for any others
out there as well.

Dave

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.blind14apr14,0,2676842.
story  

Bias against blind book lovers
By Marc Maurer
April 14, 2009  

I love to read, and I've been doing it ever since I was able. My wife is
also an avid reader. But my wife and I are blind, and because I lead the
Baltimore-based
National Federation of the Blind, we have many blind friends. And although
many of us read everything we can get our hands on, we can't get our hands
on
very much to read. 

There are services for us, of course. Government entities and nonprofit
organizations convert books into Braille, audio, or digital form for our
use. But
only 5 percent of all books published undergo such a conversion. A few more
are available as commercial audio books, but these are often abridged, and
those that are unabridged are quite expensive. 

Nowadays, a solution to the problem of reading material is tantalizingly
within our reach: the e-book. When Amazon released its new Kindle 2 e-book
reader
earlier this year, it announced that the device now includes text-to-speech
software and can read e-books aloud. Those of us who are blind were filled
with joy at this news. For the first time in history, it would now be
possible, we hoped, for the blind to do something that everyone else takes
for granted:
purchase a brand new book and start reading it right away. 

Our hope quickly turned to despair, however - and then to anger. The Authors
Guild doesn't want the Kindle 2 to be able to read books aloud. They say
this
new capability violates authors' copyrights. This argument has absolutely no
basis in copyright law. Reading a print book aloud or having it read aloud
to you in the privacy of your home is not a copyright violation; the only
difference with the Kindle 2 is that a machine rather than a human being is
doing
the reading. 

In the face of this specious attack from the Authors Guild, Amazon initially
took the legally and morally correct position that the text-to-speech
feature
of the Kindle 2 did not violate copyright law. But then the company backed
down, saying it would allow authors and publishers to decide which books
they
would permit to be read aloud by the device. Dismayed, we contacted the
Authors Guild. It claimed it did not oppose having e-books read aloud to the
blind,
as long as there was a national registry of blind people who would then be
allowed to unlock the text-to-speech feature. 

This is wrong. The Authors Guild has no right to discriminate against
disabled readers by segregating us into a separate and unequal class. If our
sighted
friends don't have to "sign up" to be permitted to read, then blind people
shouldn't either. And once we buy a book, how we read it is nobody's
business
but ours. When we told the Authors Guild this, they added insult to injury
by telling us that, if we wouldn't sign up for a registry, we would just
have
to pay extra in order to use text-to-speech. Needless to say, this is
outrageous and reprehensible behavior from an organization of people who
claim to
support equal access to literature by all Americans. Instead of facilitating
the free flow of information, the Authors Guild is making itself the arbiter
of who is worthy of access to the printed word. 

The Authors Guild isn't just discriminating against blind people. People
with other disabilities - especially brain injuries and conditions like
dyslexia
- would also benefit from the ability to have books read aloud to them
electronically. Groups representing many of these people are joining us to
protest
the position of the Authors Guild and Amazon's craven response to it. 

At present, very few of us buy books in any form. If we could have e-books
read aloud to us, however, we would happily pay for them. We are an untapped
market consisting of some 15 million people to which authors and publishers
have never before had direct access. For this reason, the position of the
Authors
Guild is not only morally repugnant but also bad business. Prohibiting the
blind and others from reading commercially available e-books just means that
authors and publishers won't get our money. The guild's position hurts both
authors and people with print disabilities. 

In an age when how we get information is constantly and rapidly changing,
it's important that people with disabilities have access to it in the same
way
that it is important for us to have access to physical structures, goods and
services. Amazon took an important step in the right direction by including
a read-aloud feature on the Kindle 2, but the Authors Guild is now trying to
set us back. We are not going to allow them to stand in the doorway of the
virtual bookstore to keep us out. 

Marc Maurer is president of the National Federation of the Blind. His e-mail
is 
officeofthepresident at nfb.org.    