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

Sun Jun 28 17:17:08 2009

John and all,

  Most of what you say here I agree with, especially the part of
sueing ASU.  But I must take excpetion with the idea that going
blind is no big deal.  It certainly IS a big deal if you 79 years old
and you start loosing your eyesight as my father was.  He had
an eye problem in which there was no correction or cure call
MD.  and he never fully adjusted mainly due to his age.

"John G. Heim" wrote:

> 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 =
pay
> 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 h=
ave
> to be prepared to continuously learn the next big thing. If you don't, yo=
u
> become expendible.
>
> I have a lot of blind friends in IT jobs and I've seen it happen again an=
d
> again. When the next big thing comes along, they're not given an opportun=
ity
> 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 layo=
ffs
> come around, they're the easiest ones to let go. In a way, that's only fa=
ir.
> 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 o=
n
> 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 ha=
rd
> enough to keep up with your sighted counterparts. It is just way easier t=
o
> 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 institute=
d
> 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 barrier=
s
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> This is the Access-l Mailing list
> access-l@access-l.com
> http://access-l.com/mailman/listinfo/access-l
>
> _______________________________________________
> A2k mailing list
> A2k@lists.essential.org
> http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k
>
> _______________________________________________
> A2k mailing list
> A2k@lists.essential.org
> http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k

Regards,

Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 284k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln
"YES WE CAN!"  Barack ( Berry ) Obama

"Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is
very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Updated 1/26/04
CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security IDNS.
div. of Information Network Eng.  INEG. INC.
ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402 E-Mail
jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
My Phone: 214-244-4827