[Nfbf-l] Fw: [Nfbnet-members-list] National Federation of the Blind Condemns Amazon's Push to Put Kindle E-books in Schools

[Sherri]

Is anyone from Florida going? I heard about this from a friend yesterday. He 
said word has been out on the state president's list for months. This is 
exciting and we need to get behind this protest. Blind children can't afford 
to be left behind.

Sherri
----- Original Message ----- 
From: David Andrews
To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 7:09 PM
Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] National Federation of the Blind Condemns 
Amazon's Push to Put Kindle E-books in Schools



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 Condemns Amazon's
Push to Put Kindle E-books in Schools



Blind Americans Will Protest at Amazon Headquarters


Seattle, Washington (December 4, 2012): In protest of a recent push by 
Amazon.com to put Kindle e-books, which are inaccessible to blind students, 
into K-12 classrooms across the country, members and supporters of the 
National Federation of the Blind will conduct an informational picket at the 
company's headquarters on Wednesday, December 12. The action comes on the 
heels of Amazon's launch of Whispercast, a system designed to allow teachers 
and school administrators to push Kindle e-books to different devices, 
theoretically allowing the sharing of content among devices brought to 
school by the students.  Kindle content, unlike some other e-book products, 
is not accessible to blind students, even on devices that are themselves 
accessible to the blind, such as personal computers and iPads.  This is 
because Amazon makes Kindle content available only to its own proprietary 
text-to-speech engine, if at all, rather than to accessibility applications 
of the reader's choice.  Furthermore, the limited accessibility features 
that Amazon has implemented do not allow for the kind of detailed reading 
that students need to do in an educational setting.  Although the books can 
be read aloud with text-to-speech, the student cannot use the accessibility 
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.  Kindle e-books also cannot 
be displayed on Braille devices, making them inaccessible to blind and 
deaf-blind students who read Braille.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: 
"Amazon has repeatedly demonstrated utter indifference to the 
recommendations of blind Americans for full accessibility of its Kindle 
e-books and failed to follow the best practices of other e-book providers. 
Blind Americans will not tolerate this behavior any longer.  While we urge 
Amazon to correct the many obvious deficiencies in its implementation of 
accessibility and remain willing to work with the company to help it do so, 
we will oppose the integration of these products into America's classrooms 
until Amazon addresses these deficiencies.  Putting inaccessible technology 
in the classroom not only discriminates against blind students and 
segregates them from their peers, but also violates the law."

For more information on this important issue, please visit 
www.nfb.org/kindle-books .

The National Federation of the Blind needs your support to ensure that blind 
children get an equal education, to connect blind veterans with the training 
and services they need, and to help seniors who are losing vision continue 
to live independent and fulfilling lives. To make a donation, please go to 
www.nfb.org.



###




About the National Federation of the Blind
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the oldest, largest, and most 
influential nationwide membership organization of blind people in the United 
States.  Founded in 1940, the NFB advocates for the civil rights and 
equality of blind Americans, and develops innovative education, technology, 
and training programs to provide the blind and those who are losing vision 
with the tools they need to become independent and successful.  We need your 
support.  To make a donation, please go to www.nfb.org





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