[A2k] Fwd: Blind Groups Sue ASU flor Kindle Use

[John G. Heim]

Reading about these kinds of accessibility problems really gets me worked
up. I don't know how many other blind people are on this list but to me,
problems like this say to me that suggesting that we let the market solve
accessibility problems is a joke. Even universities have to be forced to pa=
y
attention to the needs of the blind.

For years I've been telling people that going blind isn't as bad as you'd
think. I know people who insist that they'd kill themselves if they went
blind. Really, going blind is no big deal. Having said that, though, I'm
going to explain how it is a huge problem at least in some ways.

I work in information technology. One thing about working in IT is that
there is always something new. Oh, I'm sure there are some people still
doing the same jobs they did 20 years ago. But for most jobs in IT, you hav=
e
to be prepared to continuously learn the next big thing. If you don't, you
become expendible.

I have a lot of blind friends in IT jobs and I've seen it happen again and
again. When the next big thing comes along, they're not given an opportunit=
y
to get involved. They become less and les the "go to guy" where they work.
Their job duties gradually become more and more restricted. And when layoff=
s
come around, they're the easiest ones to let go. In a way, that's only fair=
.
They truly are less important to the company than other people.

Most successful blind people that I know make up for it by working harder
than everyone else. And they spend their spare time keeping up with
technology. Every blind IT professional I know learned their job skills on
their own in their spare time. This is why issues like the accessibility of
the kindle and the WIPO treaty are so important. If you're blind, it's hard
enough to keep up with your sighted counterparts. It is just way easier to
scan a manual visually than it is by sound. But when the manual you need
just isn't available to you, you're just stuck.

I cannot imagine what the people at ASU were thinking when they instituted
an e-textbook program without making sure the device was accessible first.
Can you imagine how hard it is to compete as a blind student even without
the additional access problems something like this would create. I don't
believe a blind person can get through college without having a certain
level of mental toughness. And for the school to throw additional barriers
in their way is unconcionable.

Yeah, sue their pants off.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Seth Johnson" <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>
To: <ecommerce@lists.essential.org>; <upd-discuss@lists.essential.org>;
<A2K@lists.essential.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 11:53 PM
Subject: [A2k] Fwd: Blind Groups Sue ASU flor Kindle Use



-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Pattison <srp@internode.on.net>
To: Access L <access-l@access-l.com>, VIP L <vip-l@softspeak.com.au>
Cc:
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:10:40 +1000
Subject: [Access-l] National Federation of the Blind and American
Council of the Blind File Discrimination Suit Against Arizona State Un

 From:    Freeh, Jessica JFreeh@nfb.org

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@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 DX=ADincluding 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 reading=ADwill 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."

Regards Steve
Email:  srp@internode.on.net
MSN Messenger:  internetuser383@hotmail.com
Skype:  steve1963

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