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<DIV dir=ltr class=OutlookMessageHeader align=left><FONT size=2
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Freeh, Jessica
[mailto:JFreeh@nfb.org]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 29, 2010 12:08
PM<BR><B>To:</B> Alpidio Rolon; Amy Buresh; Angela Wolf; Anil Lewis; Art
Schreiber; Beth Rival; Bill Packee; Bob Kresmer; Carl Jacobsen; Cassandra
McNabb; Cathy Jackson; Charlene Smyth; Christine G. Hall; Dan Hicks; Daniel
Burke; Don Galloway; Donna Wood; Elsie Dickerson; Frank Lee; Franklin Shiner;
Fred Schroeder; Gary Ray; Gary Wunder; J.W. Smith; James Antonacci; Jennelle
Bichler; Jennifer Dunnam; Joe Ruffalo; John Batron; John Fritz; Joyce Scanlan;
Ken Rollman; Kevan Worley; Kim Williams; Larry Posont; Lynn Majewski; Mary
Willows; Matt Lyles; Matt Lyles; Melissa Riccobono; Michael Barber; Michael
Freeman; Mika Pyyhkala; Nani Fife; Pam Allen; Parnell Diggs; Patti Chang; Rena
Smith; Richard Gaffney; Ron Brown; Ron Gardner; Sam Gleese; Scott LaBarre;
Selena Sundling-Crawford<BR><B>Subject:</B> National Federation of the Blind
Commends Amazon on Unveiling of New Accessible Kindle<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Garamond>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><FONT face=Helvetica><FONT size=4>FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></B></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Garamond></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Garamond>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p><FONT size=5
face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
face=Helvetica>CONTACT:<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Helvetica>Chris
Danielsen<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Helvetica>Director of Public
Relations<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Helvetica>National Federation of the
Blind<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Helvetica>(410) 659-9314, extension
2330<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Helvetica>(410) 262-1281
(Cell)<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><A
href="mailto:cdanielsen@nfb.org"><FONT
face=Helvetica>cdanielsen@nfb.org</FONT></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p><FONT face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-size: 14.0pt"><FONT face=Helvetica><FONT size=4>National
Federation of the Blind Commends Amazon<BR><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>on Unveiling of New Accessible
Kindle<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p><FONT size=5
face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Helvetica><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Baltimore,
Maryland (July 29, 2010): </SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
N<st1:PersonName w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ional Feder<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ion of the Blind (NFB) today commended Amazon on
the unveiling of a new, accessible Kindle.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Amazon announced Wednesday th<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName> the new Kindle will come equipped with a voice
guide th<st1:PersonName w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName> reads all menu options
aloud so blind and other print-disabled people can navig<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>e the device menus. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p><FONT face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Helvetica>Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the
N<st1:PersonName w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ional Feder<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ion of the Blind, said: “We commend Amazon on the
unveiling of a new Kindle th<st1:PersonName w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName> blind
and print-disabled people can use.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>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.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The N<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ional Feder<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ion of the Blind has long been urging Amazon to
make its reading device accessible, and we are pleased th<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName> our efforts have come to
fruition.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p><FONT face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT face=Helvetica>In June 2009 the
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The Kindle DX featured
text-to-speech technology that can read textbooks aloud to blind students.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>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.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For more inform<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ion on the N<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ional Feder<st1:PersonName
w:st="on">at</st1:PersonName>ion of the Blind, please visit <A
href="http://www.nfb.org/">www.nfb.org</A>. </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN>
<P></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p><FONT face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p><FONT face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><FONT
face=Helvetica>###<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><o:p><FONT size=5
face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">About the National Federation of the
Blind<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">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 <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region></st1:place>. 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 <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United
States</st1:country-region></st1:place> for the blind led by the
blind. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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face=Helvetica> </FONT></o:p></P></FONT></DIV>
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