[bksvol-discuss] Re: email from an author of a book I scanned, additional comments

  • From: "Shelley L. Rhodes" <guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:41:49 -0400

Not to mention read the paper along with everyone else on the subway, smile.


Shelley L. Rhodes, M.A., VRT
And Guinevere: Golden Lady Guide Dog
guidinggolden@xxxxxxxxx
Guide Dogs for the Blind
Alumni Association
www.guidedogs.com

Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace. -Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. general and 34th president (1890-1969)

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ann Parsons" <akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 5:59 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: email from an author of a book I scanned, additional comments


Hi all,

After attending the Victor Reader Stream webinar last night for an hour, I was reminded again of the huge difference digital books have made in our lives. As one who is totally blind and has been so for fifty-five years, I can attest to the truth of this simple statement.

When I was a child, the only books I could read myself were either huge, bulky braille volumes that took a long time to read for me, or the talking books that came on huge big 33-1/3 records. There weren't that many books. I never got to read best sellers until two or even three years after the books came out.

My parents had books, lots of them. Every room in the house had print books in it, even the bathrooms, but those books were closed to me. I couldn't read them.

Today, with the advent of Bookshare and the NLS and the other digital books, I now have a library at my fingertips. I can choose to read a book any time of the day or night. I can choose to read a book at 03:00 in the morning if I want to do so. If I don't have that book on my computer, I can go to Bookshare and if it is available, I can download it in seconds! I can download a daily newspaper, something I couldn't do up until about ten years ago.

The bottom line is that finally, a blind person can do just like every other self respecting child or adult in the world, go to a bookshelf, scann it, and pull out a book and start reading it whenever the Hell I want to do that; at 03:00 in the morning, at noon, at 4:30 in the afternoon; on Christmas Eve, on March 3rd, on July 9th, or on October 10th. If bookshare makes this possible for me, then, that's not stealing, that's access!

Ann P.

--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL:  akp@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.portaltutoring.info
Skype: Putertutor

"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."

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