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US DOJ Says Kindle In Classroom Hurts Blind Students

Posted by timothy on from the harrison-bergeron-please-report-to-the-front-office dept.

angry tapir writes "Three US universities will stop promoting the use of Amazon.com's Kindle DX e-book reader in classrooms after complaints that the device doesn't give blind students equal access to information. Settlements with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Pace University in New York City and Reed College in Portland, Oregon, were announced Wednesday by the US Department of Justice. The National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind had complained that use of the Kindle devices discriminates against students with vision problems."

15 of 492 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm, this seems illogical. by tivoKlr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How does the kindle discriminate against the blind any more than, say, A BOOK?

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    1. Re:Hmm, this seems illogical. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a partially sighted person[1] I'm trying to figure this out...hang on...um...uh..nearly there...uh...no.

      Nope sorry, no idea. Still I'm sure The National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind are patting themselves on the back for holding back the majority of students while in no way impacting any partially sighted or blind student in any way what-so-ever. Good for them!

      [1]: I have partial sight in my right eye due to several holes in my retina, one of which is directly in the center of my vision.

    2. Re:Hmm, this seems illogical. by maxume · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I have this notion that electronic copies of books might even be more accessible, as there is no need to do any OCR; I guess if the students in question are already used to using some system that isn't compatible...

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    3. Re:Hmm, this seems illogical. by davester666 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      None of the university e-books have text-to-speech enabled for them, in order to preserve the jobs of human text to speech convertors.

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    4. Re:Hmm, this seems illogical. by mabhatter654 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      exactly, see here!

      http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/02/28/0127236/Amazon-Caves-On-Kindle-2-Text-To-Speech

      The DOJ didn't exactly stick up for Amazon when they enabled text-to-speech by default for all Kindle books.... Now they claim they can't use them because it's "unfair" to blind people.... Blind people can't read EVERY book without help.... kindle make it cheaper for the rest of us to have materials. There are SPECIAL programs and credits to convert material for blind people that schools are supposed to offer... not turn off stuff for the rest of us!!

    5. Re:Hmm, this seems illogical. by enFi · · Score: 5, Informative

      In fact, such devices exist: the BrailleNote is a portable computer with a Braille 'screen'. Among other things (wireless internet, bluetooth, voice memos, word processing) it e-book reading as a feature. (I have never used one myself - I am sighted, and can barely struggle along in Braille - but a blind friend of mine has one.)

    6. Re:Hmm, this seems illogical. by consonant · · Score: 5, Funny
      [S]he's never going to see that one coming...

      (sorry)

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    7. Re:Hmm, this seems illogical. by MikeFM · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Blind users should sue publishers that disable text to speech. They are the bastards to blame.

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  2. Somebody please tell the DOJ by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That Harrison Bergeron is a warning........not a fucking "how-to" manual.

    http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html

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  3. Re:Amazon should love this precedent by m.ducharme · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, all Amazon needs to do is turn back on the text-to-speech feature...

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  4. Lowest Common Denominator mentality by syousef · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "If you can have it and I can't I'll sue" - Pretty soon kids are lucky to have access to food and clothing, let alone an education. It's a losing strategy compared to say innovating and catering to diversity. Why can't they lobby for an ebook reader that does cater to the blind. Perhaps popup braile? Instead of wasting effort sending all your kids minds back to the stone age. Doesn't have to be a Kindle either. Leave the brand names out of it.

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  5. Re:Amazon should love this precedent by Avalain · · Score: 5, Informative

    And from TFA...

    "he Kindle DX has the capability to convert text to synthesized speech, but the device does not include text-to-speech functionality for its menu and navigational controls, the DOJ said in a press release. "

  6. Ebooks not the problem, kindle navigation is by spun · · Score: 5, Informative

    I know no one reads the articles, as that would get in the way of the knee-jerking we all love to do. But the article makes it quite clear: the kindle includes a text-to-speech application, but no way for visually impaired folks to navigate. Therefore, the Kindle is not the right choice of e-book reader for institutions such as colleges and universities to promote. It is the Kindle that is unusable by the blind, not the e-books themselves.

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  7. Kindle lacks navigation for visually impaired by spun · · Score: 5, Informative

    The problem isn't e-books or readers per-se. The Kindle even includes a text to speech application. But the Kindle lacks a way for visually impaired readers to navigate, and so, it is absolutely useless as it is. All that needs to be done is to tie the user interface into the text to speech application. That's it. Until that very, very simple problem is solved, colleges and universities are correct not to promote the use of this device. A good bit of publicity early on will ensure that all e-book readers in the future have this simple feature.

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    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  8. Nonsense by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You didn't read the FA. The complaint is that the navigation menus etc are not included in the text-to-speech converter.

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