If you like what you read, please donate or visit our sponsors to show your support!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Will Suing ASU Convince Amazon to Make the Kindle Accessible?

I have discussed in length about the kindle not being accessible. I think that Amazon should do the right thing and fix this issue but I'm not sure if the ACB and the NFB are taking the right actions to make this happen. Last week I learned that these two organizations were suing Arizona State University, claiming that the ADA is being violated because the university is participating in the pilot project from Amazon. The pilot project includes 9 schools, and the plan is to give every in-coming freshman a Kindle DX to see what college students think, and if they would prefer to read their text books on a Kindle rather than a regular book.

I agree that ASU is breaking the law by participating in this project because it discriminates against their blind students, but if we're going to sue one university, than shouldn't we sue them all? In this economic climate, throwing the book at public universities just doesn't make sense to me. The people the blind community should be mad at is Amazon, not the schools participating in the pilot project. And let us not forget that even if the Kindle DX was accessible, the publishers can turn off the text to speech feature at anytime. The blind community already has great resources for getting text books in an accessible format. Would having a Kindle be better? Maybe, but is suing a university going to solve that problem? I don't think it will. Maybe this is why I don't belong to any advocacy organizations.

Here is a link to the Blind Access Journal post that provides the complaint and preliminary injunction made against ASU.

So tell me what you think. Am I wrong? Does ASU deserve to be sued? What do you think will cause Amazon to make the Kindle accessible?
Posted by at 4:00 AM
Labels: , , ,

8 comments:

  1. There are two ways we can legally push for better access: the demand side or the supply side. It has been our previous experience that the demand side is more directly regulated, especially with respect to the Rehabilitation Act. We're just simply handling this case in a way we believe gets us the best overall results.

    If you agree that ASU is in violation of the law, then what's wrong with our taking measures to ensure the law is enforced properly?

    Please keep in mind that ASU is not the only target of action. Complaints have also been filed with the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Education against the other five universities participating in this pilot program. Honestly, I have to say, I resent the use of taxpayer dollars and my tuition funds to endorse or purchase products the university knows are inaccessible and thus harmful to blind and visually impaired students.

    When sighted students are going to enjoy instant access to e-books, havin to wait as long as four months is no longer acceptable for the blind
    ReplyDelete
  2. Darrell, Thank you for giving your perspective on this issue. I think it is good when people show me that there are other sides to look at. If this process ends up working in our favor than I applaud you and the rest of the team. What do you think will be the result of making the injunctions? Is there a chance that Amazon will listen?
    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi. First, the orgs couldn't sue all the universities. The organizations would have no "standing" to sue a university at which a blind student was not enrolled. At ASU, there is a blind student who believes he is discriminated against because of the pilot program. For this reason, ASU can be sued.

    It's quite possible that this law suit could encourage Amazon to reactivate the Kindle TTS by hitting them right in the pocketbook. Amazon wants universities to buy this product for all their students. If it is found to b a violation of both the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, universities will demand another alternative that complies with the law. This would force amazon to reactivate tTS to stay competitive. In other words, being ADA/Rehab Act-Compliant would make good business sense.
    ReplyDelete
  4. And yes, complaints have been filed against the other universities, as Darrell mentioned. It is just that the sittuation at ASU is different because there is a named plaintiff.
    ReplyDelete
  5. Why would you sue universities (which have no money) instead of for-profit companies? FAIL!
    ReplyDelete
  6. Steve: The suit seeks an injunction, not money damages. In other words, the suit isn't asking the universities to pay money to the plaintiffs; it is asking them to stop using inaccessible technology. One reason that it is more advisable to sue the universities is that there is clear legal precedent establishing the obligation of educational institutions under the ADA and the Rehab Act. Whether Amazon would be considered a public accommodation under the ADA is unclear. It is importnat to keep the scope of the suit in mind: It simply assks that universities be prevented from using the Kindle until they can do so in a way that complies with the law.
    ReplyDelete
  7. So, let's say that either The Universities in question cave and don't use the Kindle. Amazon re-tools it and makes it accessible, menus etc. Still we have the problem of authors choosing whether to have TTS available or not. It seems to me that there should be a way for instant access for blind students to textbooks regardless. What about textbooks which of course are in electronic form anyway to be made available as Daisy books from some central reposatory, downloadable to VRS or Book Sense, something somehow standardized to be used by all universities. Instead of buying the Kindle for a blind student, they purchase whatever delivery system has been agreed upon and provide the blind student access to copies of text books that way.
    I'll admit I haven't been a student since the 70s when we had to depend on RFB or Voc Rehab paying for a reader so my perspective may be a tad outdated. Just my 2 cents such as they are.
    ReplyDelete
  8. Rob I am right there with you. I really worry that Amazon will make the Kindle accessible and then more publishers will turn off the TTS feature. If the text book publishers are making their books in electronic format, than I see no reason those electronic formats shouldn't be put on other devices that already work for us.
    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)