Miriam, can you send me links to those two lists? I assume this is something
that just happened. Usually when something like this happens I get a voicemail
box full of messages on my office phone from folks wanting help. Nothing yet
but maybe tomorrow. As far as ACB goes, sending that (or anything else) to the
e-mail lists won't do anything. The lists are pretty much for announcements and
idle chit chat. To get your message read send it to:
advocacy@xxxxxxx
E-mails sent to that address are sent to and read by the director of advocacy.
The more specific you make themessage with dates, times, and specific details;
the stronger the message will be.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Tuesday, August 4, 2020 4:16 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Something for a national ACB list
Today on the VR Stream list and the Jaws for Windows list, there are dozens of
messages from people who are having problems downloading books from Audible to
their Streams. They are all very skilled computer users and they spend $14 or
more each month for commercially produced audio books and other audio
productions. From about 2012 and onward, until recently, I thought that doing
so was unnecessary, given the fact that so many of the same commercially
produced books began appearing on BARD in a very timely manner.
But now that the stream of books has been so radically reduced and we have no
idea what the real reason is, regardless of everyone's assumptions, I'm not so
sure. Anyway, that isn't the point. The point is that a very large number of
blind people are having this issue and each one of them is desperately
attempting to solve the problem on his or her own. I forwarded two messages
from the Victor Stream list to the Jaws list which seemed like they might be
helpful to the people who were not on the Victor Stream list.
One of the most skilled members of the Jaws list then subscribed to the Victor
Stream list as a result of that message and wrote about his numerous
unsuccessful attempts to solve his problems with many phone calls to the
Audible tech people. The problems are a result of the change to Windows 10 from
Windows 7 and a simultaneous change in the Audible software for downloading
books. People called Humanware which was unhelpful. The Audible tech people, if
things haven't changed from when I last used Audible, are not in the US and are
not accustomed to working with blind people. If I were still a member of the
ACB list, I would write the following.
As an national advocacy organization, the accessibility of Audible books to
blind people who use devices that are manufactured for the use of blind people
like the Victor Reader Stream, should be an important concern. For large
numbers of blind people, including those who use I phones, devices like the VR
Stream are easier to use in many situations and their use should be supported.
The manufacturers of these devices should be encouraged to make every effort to
cooperate with the suppliers of content for their devices to facilitate their
use for blind people. But it is also most important that when a company like
Audible makes changes in their software, representatives of the blind community
and the manufacturers of blindness devices be involved so that people will not
be left on their own to deal with complicated technical changes. Audio material
is just about the most important entertainment and educational material that
blind people have.
Organizations that represent them should be concerned with ensuring that all
such resources remain easily accessible to them.
Miriam
