[Nfbf-l] National Federation of the Blind and American Councilof the Bli...

taraprakash taraprakash at gmail.com
Mon Jun 29 13:55:53 UTC 2009 

Hello Dwight. I should reach the hotel by 10:30 on Friday, July 3, if the 
flights are as scheduleed.

Regards

Tara
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <REPCODDS at aol.com>
To: <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 12:26 AM
Subject: Re: [Nfbf-l] National Federation of the Blind and American 
Councilof the Bli...


>
> Tara,
> When are you arriving in Detroit?
> Dr. Maurer has said we can meet with him. I will call him in Baltimore
> tomorrow.
> Dwight
>
>
> In a message dated 6/25/2009 9:41:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> taraprakash at gmail.com writes:
>
> Here all  the universities need to do is, provide a .txt version of the
> files
> to the  print-disabled. It must have been so much easier than defending in
> the  court. I am not aware of the negotiations that took place between NFB
> and  the University and if there was any discussion about alternate
> formats.
>
> I wonder what response do we have if we are asked in the court  how is 
> this
> situation different from the print book regime. Even the print  books are
> not
> accessible to the blind. They anyway use an alternate  format, why not in
> this case?
>
> Thanks
>
> Tara
> ----- Original  Message ----- 
> From: "Freeh,Jessica (by way of David Andrews  <dandrews at visi.com>)"
> <JFreeh at nfb.org>
> To:  <david.andrews at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 4:25  PM
> Subject: [Nfbf-l] National Federation of the Blind and American Council 
> of
> the Blind File Discrimination Suit Against Arizona State  University
>
>
>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE  RELEASE
>
>
> CONTACT:
>
> Chris Danielsen
>
> Director of Public  Relations
>
> National Federation of the Blind
>
> (410) 659-9314,  extension 2330
>
> (410) 262-1281  (Cell)
>
> cdanielsen at nfb.org
>
>
>
>
>
> National Federation of  the Blind and American Council of the Blind
> File Discrimination Suit  Against Arizona State University
>
>
>
>
>
> University's Amazon  Kindle DX Pilot Program Discriminates Against the 
> Blind
>
> Baltimore,  Maryland (June 25, 2009): The National
> Federation of the Blind (NFB) and  the American
> Council of the Blind (ACB) filed suit today
> 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.  Darrell Shandrow, a blind ASU student,
> is also a  named plaintiff in the action.  The
> Kindle DX features text-to-speech  technology that
> can read textbooks aloud to blind students.   The
> menus of the device are 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.  In
> addition to ASU, five other institutions of
> higher  education are deploying the Kindle DX as
> part of a pilot project to assess  the role of
> electronic textbooks and reading devices in  the
> classroom.  The NFB and ACB have also filed
> complaints with the  Office for Civil Rights of
> the U.S. Department of Education and the  Civil
> Rights Division of the U.S. Department of
> Justice, asking for  investigations of these five
> institutions, which are: Case Western  Reserve
> University, the Darden School of Business at the
> University of  Virginia, Pace University,
> Princeton University, and Reed College.   The
> lawsuit and complaints allege violations of the
> Americans with  Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
>
>
>
> Dr.  Marc Maurer, President of the National
> Federation of the Blind, said:  "Given the
> highly-advanced technology involved, there is no
> good reason  that Amazon's Kindle DX device should
> be inaccessible to blind  students.  Amazon could
> have used the same text-to-speech technology  that
> reads e-books on the device aloud to make its
> menus accessible to  the blind, but it chose not
> to do so.  Worse yet, six American  higher
> education institutions that are subject to
> federal laws requiring  that they not discriminate
> against students with disabilities plan to  deploy
> this device, even though they know that it cannot
> be used by  blind students.  The National
> Federation of the Blind will not  tolerate this
> unconscionable discrimination against and  callous
> indifference to the right of blind students to
> receive an equal  education.  We hope that this
> situation can be rectified in a manner  that
> allows this exciting new reading technology to be
> made available to  blind and sighted students alike."
>
>
>
> Darrell Shandrow, a blind  student pursuing a
> degree in journalism at ASU, said: "Not having
> access  to the advanced reading features of the
> Kindle DX­including the ability  to download books
> and course materials, add my own bookmarks and
> notes,  and look up supplemental information
> instantly on the Internet when I  encounter it in
> my reading­will lock me out of this new
> technology  and put me and other blind students at
> a competitive disadvantage relative  to our
> sighted peers.  While my peers will have instant
> access to  their course materials in electronic
> form, I will still have to wait weeks  or months
> for accessible texts to be prepared for me, and
> these texts  will not provide the access and
> features available to other students.   That is
> why I am standing up for myself and with other
> blind Americans  to end this blatant  discrimination."
>
>
>
>
>
> ###
>
>
>
>
>
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