[stylist] [nabs-l] Fwd: URGENT: WE NEED LETTERS TO MAKE E-READERS ACCESSIBLEBY LABOR DAY
Sophie Trist
sweetpeareader at gmail.com
Fri Aug 30 21:07:22 UTC 2013
---- Original Message ------
From: "Stephanie H. DeLuca" <sjhhirst at gmail.com
Subject: [nabs-l] Fwd: URGENT: WE NEED LETTERS TO MAKE E-READERS
ACCESSIBLEBY LABOR DAY
Date sent: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:12:16 -0500
Hello my friends,
I apologize for the late notice, but I just received this
yesterday. I know
you are all busy with lives, work, and school, but knowing you
all as I do,
I believe you could all write very persuasively on the topics
outlined in
the attached skeleton letter. In a nutshell, eReader
manufacturers are
petitioning to have all eReaders exempted from the accessibility
requirements of the )
Twenty-First Century Communications and Video )
Accessibility Act of 2010. They are making the absurd argument
that
eReaders shouldn't be characterized as having advanced
communications
services because they are just for reading, and that the internet
features
are just ancillary. They also claim it will be prohibitively
expensive to
make them accessible. They are also asking that their waiver for
eReaders
be perpetual, regardelss of how eReaders continue to progress as
connected
devices.
The email below includes a copy of the petition, a draft of the
NFB's
response to the petition, and a skeleton letter that I'm asking
you to
write and send to the NFB by Monday. As I said, I know you are
all very
busy, as am I, but if you can find the time to do this, it would
be very
helpful in our effort to stop a potential administrative
thwarting of the
will of Congress, and the needs of disabled people worldwide.
Once your letter is complete, please email it to Valerie
Yingling at
vyingling at nfb.org.
Thank you all for your time and effort.
Best,
--Al Elia
Begin forwarded message:
*From: *"McLarney, Lauren" <LMcLarney at nfb.org
*Subject: **URGENT: WE NEED LETTERS TO MAKE E-READERS ACCESSIBLE
BY LABOR
DAY*
*Date: *August 28, 2013 5:06:57 PM EDT
Hello Legislative Directors,****
** **
We need your help! The Coalition of E-Reader Manufacturers has
submitted a
Petition for Waiver to the FCC asking that e-readers be exempt
from the
Twenty First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
(CVAA)
accessibility requirements. I have attached the Petition. NFB
has written
comments opposing the request, and we are asking other groups to
sign on.
I have also attached those comments. But the FCC needs to hear
from our
members blind people who want access to e-readers and the
more people
they hear from, the better. We are asking all Legislative
Directors to
find people in their respective affiliates to edit the attached
skeleton
letter and return it to us. The letter is already formatted and
has an
outline, but it is up to each person to make it personal and
select which
talking points they want to use. Finished letters should be sent
to
Valerie Yingling atvyingling at nfb.org by *8pm on Monday, September
2*.
Valerie will proofread each document to make sure there are no
typos and
the customized points are still on message, and then we will
submit the
letters all at once when they are due on September 3rd. We are
short on
time but I trust that this issue is pressing to our membership
and we will
get a good amount of letters. ****
** **
For some background: The CVAA requires that all mobile devices
with
advanced communications services (ACS) be accessible to blind
people, but
the law allows manufacturers to request a waiver for equipment
that is not
intended for ACS. The Coalition (comprised of Amazon, Sony and
Kobo)
claims that the primary purpose of e-readers is reading, and that
the ACS
found in e-readers is so incidental and ancillary that it is not
an
intended purpose of the device. We know this is not true
e-readers are
outfitted with built-in web browsers and designed for social
media. The
Coalition also claims that to make e-readers accessible would
require a
fundamental overhaul that would render e-readers obsolete, harm
the public
interest, and not provide substantial benefit to blind people.
We know
that this offensive claim is also not true. It is critical that
the FCC
hear from all of us it is the only thing that can defeat the
petition.
Regulation is legislations sister, so I know we can count on all
of you to
get a good amount of feedback to the FCC. If you have any
questions, dont
hesitate to email me or Valerie. Looking forward to seeing
everyones
letters. ****
** **
Cheers,****
Lauren****
* *
*Lauren McLarney*****
Government Affairs Specialist****
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND****
200 East Wells St.****
Baltimore, MD 21230****
(410) 659 9314 ext. 2207****
lmclarney at nfb.org****
****
****
** **
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