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Dear Fellow Federationists:<br>
<br>
As many of you know, we are engaged in a campaign to obtain access for
the blind and others with print disabilities to e-books available for
Amazon’s new Kindle 2 e-book reader. The new reader, which Amazon is
working to make fully accessible to the blind, has the ability to use
text-to-speech to read these e-books aloud; but under pressure from the
Authors Guild, Amazon has announced that authors and publishers will be
allowed to disable the text-to-speech function. The National Federation
of the blind has joined with over twenty other organizations to create
the reading Rights Coalition, which has set up an on-line petition to
urge the Authors Guild and Amazon to reverse course. Please read and sign
the petition here:
<a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/We-Want-To-Read">
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/We-Want-To-Read</a><br>
<br>
Please note: If you are using screen access technology, the first three
fields on the form to sign the petition may not be announced. They are,
in order: (1) a drop-down menu from which to select your prefix (Mr.,
Mrs., etc.); (2) an edit field for your first name, and (3) an edit field
for your last name. the rest of the fields should announce themselves as
you tab to them. If you still have trouble filling out the form, please
send the following information to
<a href="mailto:readingrights@nfb.org">readingrights@nfb.org</a> and we
will be happy to sign on your behalf. You will need to send us your name,
address, e-mail address, and any personal comments you would like to make
about this issue. Thank you so much for your participation in this
critically important effort.<br>
<br>
Sincerely:<br>
<br>
Chris Danielsen<br>
Director of Public Relations<br>
National Federation of the Blind<br>
<br>
P.S. Once you have signed the petition, please be sure to forward the
link to all of the contacts in your address book that you believe will
support us in this cause. <br>
<br>
<br>
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