SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
EXPLORE +
  • About infoDOCKET
  • Academic Libraries on LJ
  • Research on LJ
  • News on LJ
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Libraries
    • Academic Libraries
    • Government Libraries
    • National Libraries
    • Public Libraries
  • Companies (Publishers/Vendors)
    • EBSCO
    • Elsevier
    • Ex Libris
    • Frontiers
    • Gale
    • PLOS
    • Scholastic
  • New Resources
    • Dashboards
    • Data Files
    • Digital Collections
    • Digital Preservation
    • Interactive Tools
    • Maps
    • Other
    • Podcasts
    • Productivity
  • New Research
    • Conference Presentations
    • Journal Articles
    • Lecture
    • New Issue
    • Reports
  • Topics
    • Archives & Special Collections
    • Associations & Organizations
    • Awards
    • Funding
    • Interviews
    • Jobs
    • Management & Leadership
    • News
    • Patrons & Users
    • Preservation
    • Profiles
    • Publishing
    • Roundup
    • Scholarly Communications
      • Open Access

June 18, 2012 by Gary Price

National Federation of the Blind Tells Secretary of State Clinton That Kindle Does Not Meet Needs of Blind/Print Disabled

June 18, 2012 by Gary Price

UPDATE: Rob Pegoraro has tweeted that Wednesday’s Kindle Learning Initiative event at the State Dept. has been CANCELLED.  No reason given. We’ve contacted the State Department and had no info to share. They said a news release might be coming later.
Last week we posted about a no-bid contract between Amazon.com and the U.S. State Department.
The story got pcoverage from several news organizations including some impressive reporting from Laura Hazard Owen at paidContent. Many questions are still unanswered.
On Friday afternoon we learned that U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos will formally announce the Kindle Learning Initiative on Wednesday at an event in Washington D.C.
Today, Marc Mauer, President of the National Federation of the Blind (the largest organization of blind people in the U.S.) sent a letter to Secretary Clinton saying that the agreement with Amazon does not provide a device, the Kindle, that will meet the needs of blind and print disabled.
Mauer Writes:

Unfortunately, the contemplated agreement with Amazon does not provide for accessible Kindles. While the sole-source Justification and Approval the Department issued requires text-to-speech capability for the content, that alone will not render the device accessible. The navigation and menus must also be accessible. As the Kindle is currently designed, a blind person must have a sighted individual enable the text-to-speech function and then the blind reader must listen to the book from beginning to end without the ability to skip around the text or otherwise control navigation through the material.
As the proposed deal between the Department of State and Amazon currently stands, there is no provision that requires the devices be accessible in accordance with the Department’s obligations under Section 508. The requirement that electronic books be accessible to the blind and print-disabled precludes the government from procuring inaccessible e-book reading technology and from continuing to rely upon separate, unequal processes for people with disabilities. It is no excuse that a vendor has not made its product accessible. The inaccessibility of the Kindle devices does not result from the absence of existing technology to make e-books accessible. Rather, it is entirely the product of Amazon’s lack of interest in providing fully accessible e-books and e-book devices that are accessible to the blind or print-disabled.

Mauer also provides some background about issues with the Kindle device and other complaints the National Federation for the Blind has filed about the device.
He also points out two devices that some devices are “fully accessible to the blind and print disabled” including the Apple iPad and  KFNB Blio.
The full text of Michael Mauer’s letter to Clinton is embedded below.
Mauer2clinton Nfb
Thanks to Carrie Russell from ALA’s Washington Office for her help with this report.

Filed under: Associations and Organizations, News, Publishing

SHARE:

Amazon.comE-BookseReadersInformation TechnologyKindleNational Federation for the Blind (NFB)Print DisabledU.S. State Department

About Gary Price

Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Job Zone

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Infodocket Posts

ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Tweets by infoDOCKET

ADVERTISEMENT

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • Programs+
  • Design
  • Leadership
  • People
  • COVID-19
  • Advocacy
  • Opinion
  • INFOdocket
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Booklists
  • Prepub Alert
  • Book Pulse
  • Media
  • Readers' Advisory
  • Self-Published Books
  • Review Submissions
  • Review for LJ

Awards

  • Library of the Year
  • Librarian of the Year
  • Movers & Shakers 2022
  • Paralibrarian of the Year
  • Best Small Library
  • Marketer of the Year
  • All Awards Guidelines
  • Community Impact Prize

Resources

  • LJ Index/Star Libraries
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies

Events & PD

  • Online Courses
  • In-Person Events
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Submit Features/News
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Careers at MSI


© 2023 Library Journal. All rights reserved.


© 2022 Library Journal. All rights reserved.