[bksvol-discuss] Can this help bookshare?
- From: "robert tweedy" <roberttweedy@xxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:06:10 -0500
ATLANTA (AP) - Federal officials are requiring colleges that use Kindles and
other electronic book readers in the classroom to make sure the gadgets have
accommodations for blind and vision-impaired students.
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Education sent a letter to college and
university presidents Tuesday instructing them to find alternatives for
blind
students if the devices are required in the classroom.
Not doing so would be a violation of federal law, said Russlynn Ali,
assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department.
"It is unacceptable for universities to use emerging technology without
insisting that this technology be accessible to all students," Ali wrote in
the
joint letter with Thomas E. Perez, assistant U.S. attorney general.
The federal government began examining last year whether the use of Kindles
and other e-readers violated the Americans with Disabilities Act after a
blind
Arizona State University student sued the campus in June alleging that
Kindle's inaccessibility to blind students constituted a violation of
federal law.
The lawsuit was settled in January with the help of the National Federation
of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind.
Many e-readers have text-to-speech functions, but those don't apply to
menus, which means that a blind person would still need help using the
device, Ali
said.
"The key here is fully accessible, not in-part accessible," Ali told The
Associated Press. "Blind users cannot navigate the menu. They couldn't fast
forward
or even know which book they were reading."
So far, four universities - including Princeton University - testing
Amazon's Kindle in the classroom have struck deals with the Justice
Department and
agreed to shelve the e-readers until they are fully functional for blind
students.
The other campuses are: Pace University in New York, Case Western Reserve
University in Cleveland and Reed College in Portland, Ore.
A settlement is still being worked out with the University of Virginia, Ali
said.
Amazon officials did not immediately return a request for comment. The
company has said it is working on expanding features of the Kindle to ensure
blind
people can use them independently.
Ali said the policy also would apply to any K-12 schools wanting to use
e-readers in the classroom, but so far only the school district in
Clearwater, Fla.,
has expressed such interest. She said the Education Department is monitoring
that district to be sure they meet federal requirements.
___
Online:
U.S. Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov
Associated Press
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDefault/06b03e2f3f644f65a4610ca9d28c1e75/Article_2010-06-29-US-Blind-Students-Kindle/id-951a6804ff2440ebab9167c5f8b07d36
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