Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Over the past few weeks, I have been organizing with colleagues from around the country to ensure that Amazon's Kindle 2 is accessible to people with print disabilities. (I am a founding member of one organization (Assn on Higher Education and Disability) and president of another (International Dyslexia Association-NY Branch). The Reading Rights Coalition is engaged in a campaign to obtain access for the blind and others with print disabilities to e-books available for Amazon’s new Kindle 2 e-book reader. The new reader, which Amazon is working to make fully accessible, has the ability to use text-to-speech to read these e-books aloud; but under pressure from the Authors Guild, Amazon has announced that authors and publishers will be allowed to disable the text-to-speech function.

This is very unfortunate because Text-To-Speech opens the world of books, magazines, newspapers, and other print media to children and adults with disabilities such as vision impairments, learning disabilities, paralysis, traumatic and other brain injuries. Current alternatives, such as Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic cannot meet the need because that technology is far too limited in selection and timeliness of production. Technologically, once text has been digitized, it’s digitized. The reader’s choice of media format (print image or audio) is merely a matter of display option – not a different product.

Over 25 organizations have joined to form the Reading Rights Coalition, which has set up an on-line petition to urge the Authors Guild and Amazon to reverse course. Visit www.readingrights.org to learn more about our work and see our Open Letter to Authors. We’ve scheduled an informational picket in front of the Authors’ Guild, 31 East 32nd Street in Manhattan, next Tuesday, April 7th from 12:00 to 2:00 pm.

Please read and sign our petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/We-Want-To-Read

Please note: If you are using screen access technology, the first three fields on the form to sign the petition may not be announced. They are, in order: (1) a drop-down menu from which to select your prefix (Mr., Mrs., etc.); (2) an edit field for your first name, and (3) an edit field for your last name. The rest of the fields should announce themselves as you tab to them.

We hope you can join us. In the meantime, join the Reading Rights Coalition Group, http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=67290717289#/pages/Reading-Rights-Coalition/67290717 289?ref=mf .

Then sign the petition site http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/We-Want-To-Read, and forward to everyone in your network.

If you use Twitter, please tweet the information as well!

Thanks,
Jo Anne Simon

Informational Protest THIS Tuesday, April 7th, outside the Authors Guild headquarters, in New York City!

Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Time: 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: Authors Guild
Street: 31 East 32nd Street
City/Town: New York, NY 10016

We will have flyers and signs available, chant slogans, hear from leaders in the disability rights community, and join together to urge the Authors Guild to reverse its stance.
Reading Rights Coalition Informational Protest:
How to Get There, What to expect (http://www.readingrights.org/informational-protest)

The Association of Blind Citizens will webcast the protest live as it happens from New York City on Tuesday April 7th. The webcast will begin between 11:45 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. EDT. You are encouraged to download the conference plug in in advance of the event. All details and links located at:
http://blindcitizens.org/live

Video of the protest has made the front page of CNN.com:
Author's Guild Protest (http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-241057)

PRESS RELEASE
April 07, 2009

For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Jo Anne Simon
(917) 825-0485

People with Print Disabilities to Authors Guild:

"We just want to read what you do!"

The Association on Higher Education And Disability (AHEAD) and the New York Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (NYB-IDA), the nation's largest, issued a joint statement protesting Amazon's decision at the behest of the Author's Guild, to permit publishers to "turn off" the Kindle 2's Text-To-Speech feature. Kindle 2 would allow readers to receive the text contained in their downloaded material in the format they are most comfortable with - in a visual, standard print image, or audio.

"Many books, magazines and newspapers are available to print impaired users," said AHEAD founding member and Dyslexia Association president, Jo Anne Simon. "The technology however, is insufficient to provide a timely and complete product. People must wait months and years for abridged versions of popular titles. It's even worse for technical materials."

"Today, the doors of postsecondary education are open to students with disabilities of all kinds. Unfortunately, the books and materials aren't. All we want is for our students to get the education they deserve and that includes being able to access the written materials they are assigned. How the Author's Guild thinks this might infringe on authors' rights is beyond me. We're expanding their market."

Members of AHEAD and NYBIDA were on hand at the informational protest in front of the Authors Guild headquarters in New York City on Tuesday, April 7, from noon until 2:00 p.m.
# # #