[accesscomp] Lobbying Amazon to make Kindle accessible

From: "Bob Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "tektalk discussion" <tektalkdiscussion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:36:24 -0800
    Hello from the Team at AppleVis.

We wanted to let you know about our new Campaign of the Month.

As you are probably aware, the Kindle app for iOS devices is not usable with 
VoiceOver. We believe that it is time for Amazon to stop excluding blind iOS 
users from their Kindle Book Store, so hope that you will support our Campaign 
for fair and equal access by lobbying them to make the app accessible. Not only 
would this be a good commercial decision for Amazon, but it is simply the 
'right' thing for them to do and arguably something they have a legal 
requirement to do. As consumers, it would also provide us with some much-needed 
competition and choice when shopping for eBooks.

Amazon has shown with other apps, such as Audible and Amazon Mobile, that they 
can make apps that are accessible and easy to use with VoiceOver. In fact, the 
Audible app was recently inducted into our iOS App Hall of Fame, which shows 
just how much the community appreciates Amazon's commitment to  making Audible 
books accessible to all of their customers. Now, we simply want Amazon to 
demonstrate a similar commitment to Kindle books.

Amazon might cite technical or legal reasons why it is not possible to make 
Kindle books accessible with VoiceOver, but Apple's iBooks shows that this does 
not stand up to scrutiny. Amazon could and should ensure that Kindle books are 
accessible to all of their customers. They should be rather ashamed that this 
is not already the case. We hope that our lobbying will go some way towards 
convincing them that they can and will make Kindle accessible to all.

We hope that you will spare just a few moments to support this Campaign by 
submitting this form. Please note that you will need to be registered and 
logged in to the AppleVis website to be able to access this form. When you 
click 'Submit', your message will be mailed directly to Amazon.

As with all of our Campaigns, we have provided a draft message. However, do 
please feel free to modify this ... perhaps to say how having access to Kindle 
books would personally benefit you.

Thank you for your support.

The AppleVis Editorial Team
http://www.applevis.com

You can support the continued maintenance and development of the AppleVis 
website by making a small donation at: http://www.applevis.com/donate

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Robert Acosta, President
Helping Hands for the Blind
Email: boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx
Web Site: www.helpinghands4theblind.org

You can assist Helping Hands for the Blind by donating your used computers to 
us. If you have a blind friend in need of a computer, please mail us at the 
above address.
[accesscomp] Lobbying Amazon to make Kindle accessible

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