[vi-kindle] Re: Amazon, Why Do You Keep Burning Blind Readers?

  • From: "Sherry Gomes" <sherriola@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <vi-kindle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2012 08:44:08 -0700

Um, not all of us use an iPhone or iPad. I do, but why should people be
forced to use an expensive smart phone just to have access to a kindle app?
My best friend has no desire to have a smart phone, but he does like his
kindle keyboard.



-----Original Message-----
From: vi-kindle-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:vi-kindle-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of kb7uengene
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 8:27 AM
To: vi-kindle@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [vi-kindle] Re: Amazon, Why Do You Keep Burning Blind Readers?

I know I'm going to get crap for making this statement, but I'm going to say
it anyway.  I still don't understand why Amazon is bothering to make the
Fire accessible in the first place when they could simply rely on all the
hard work Apple put into making their iOS devices accessible.  All Amazon
really needs to do is make their Kindle for iOS app, Kindle for PC app with
accessibility plug-in, and finally Kindle for Mac app, accessible so they
match up feature for feature with the Kindle 3/keyboard
hardware/firmware-based e-reader line of devices.  In essence, Amazon is
making a lot more work for themselves creating their own voice navigation
and screen reader for android-based hardware with their very proprietary
skin over the top of it.  Personally I think NFB demonstration the other day
in front of Amazon was a complete waste of time because the people raising a
stink about accessibility on the Kindle have lost sight of, pardon the pun,
of what's really important here.   It isn't about the hardware itself,
that's not important, it's about accessibility and being able to do the
things you want to do just like everyone else does and takes for granted
while they are doing it.  An iPhone and or an iPod touch with the
recommendations I mentioned above would completely replicate either a Kindle
keyboard with Wi-Fi or a Kindle keyboard with Wi-Fi and 3G.  So my big
question to everyone is why are you all asking Amazon go the long hard way
around to make the Kindle accessible rather than doing it the simple way by
making only the Kindle for iOS app and Kindle for Mac app accessible so that
you get what you want sooner rather than later?  Remember the iPhone and the
iPod touch can easily fit in a small pocket, you try doing that with Kindle
keyboard. - Gene

On Dec 14, 2012, at 7:36 AM, "Russ Kiehne" <russ94577@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Doing some research, I found the following from NFB.  I can't see buying a
Kindle
Fire at this point in time.  I'll continue to use my Kindle Keyboard to reae
Kindle books.

Amazon, Why Do You Keep Burning Blind Readers?
Submitted by cvangerven on Fri, 12/07/2012 - 13:00
Blog Date:
Friday, December 7, 2012
By Amy Mason

According to ZDNet and Engadget the Kindle Fire will be getting Explore by
Touch and Voice Guide to provide
accessibility features to blind and visually impaired customers.
These features were first introduced in Google's Android, Ice Cream Sandwich
operating system. (This is the basis of the OS for the Kindle Fire and Fire
HD
which has been heavily skinned by Amazon for the device.)  Google has since
released Jelly Bean which has improved markedly on accessibility.  If this
were Amazon's only weakness,
an out-of-date OS, I would be disappointed, but I would understand. This is
not, however, Amazon's only problem.
Their weakness instead, appears to be a disregard for the wishes of its
blind
consumers.
Blind people want Kindle books. We want them badly enough that I know
several
blind people who have chosen to buy the Kindle Keyboard, despite being
unable
to do anything more than start and stop text-to-speech on their books.  The
PC edition (with accessibility plug-in) is slightly better.  If a user is
willing to sit at a PC, they can read by navigational elements as small as a
sentence at a time, and as large as a page (seriously, you have to sit at
the
computer and turn every page.  What a thrilling way to read a book!)
I hear a few of you saying, "Ok, Amy, so you are upset about the past, but
now
Amazon is offering this additional accessibility in the Fire".  I am sorry
to
disappoint
you, but for all intents and purposes it did not improve on their existing
efforts.
We purchased a Kindle Fire HD, and received it last Friday.  We read on
Amazon's website that there were accessibility features, so we felt that we
had to do our due diligence and test their work. First of all, when you get
the device,
you have to have a sighted person turn on the accessibility features because
there is no way for a blind person to turn them on independently.
Secondly, access is limited to the device settings, the collection of books
in
a user's library, the primary navigation buttons (back, home, and more) and
allowing you to start and stop text-to-speech on a book.  A sighted reader
on
this tablet has the capability to browse the Web, play music, play audio
books, download and read magazines and newspapers, buy Android apps, read
e-mail, view documents (this ay be accessible, I didn't get a chance to
check),
browse photos, voice chat, and read books.  We are limited to access to the
settings, navigating our library, and using the digitized speech equivalent
of
a cassette tape.  We can play and pause speech, and it will read
continuously,
just like on the Kindle Keyboard, but we cannot navigate accessibly.  No
headings, paragraphs, pages, sentences, words or characters can be
distinguished, nor can you go back accessibly. Tables of contents and social
media integration are likewise unavailable to blind users.
We were concerned by these conclusions, and decided that perhaps we were
missing some details, so we called the company. (Accessibility was a very
small part of the help page after all.)  We spoke with two different
customer
service reps, and indeed, the reps verified that yes, this is the extent of
the accessibility of the device.
It is hard to see the accessibility features in the Kindle Fire as a gesture
of goodwill.
Amazon is familiar enough with what true accessibility looks like, both
directly from us, from the work their competition has done, and even from
the
screen access packages it requires to allow a PC user to read with text to
speech on a computer.
It cannot claim ignorance when Google, Apple, and Microsoft all offer far
more
accessible devices (they all have their problems, but let's be honest, these
guys are all making a legitimate effort.). Furthermore, both the iPad and
the
Nexus 7 are confirmed to offer accessible eReaders from other creators
(several
of which can be used with Braille) while no access to Kindle books is
available on any of these platforms.
Amazon needs to stop burning blind readers with these half-hearted attempts
at
accessibility in all versions of the Kindle, including the Fire. What is
needed now is for it to implement real accessibility, rather than expecting
blind readers to accept a cassette tape equivalent in an era of
multi-purpose
tablets.

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