Quote:
Originally Posted by Daithi
I am of two minds on this issue. Initially I felt pretty much like Phantom-Rose, and my general sentiments still lean in this direction. If universities used traditional textbooks then they would need to accomodate the blind with brail versions or large text versions of the textbooks. I don't see why using electronic versions of textbooks change anything. Universities can accommodate the blind the same way they do now. For the severly blind, they can provide them with brail versions of the textbooks. For the partially sighted, the Kindle probably works better than other options. Initially, the ACB's position kind of ticked me off.
I'm now starting to think the ACB might have had a point. It doesn't require a big change to the Kindle to make it just as useful for the blind as it is for sighted students. The only change they really needed to make was add TTS to their menu system. The ACB's lawsuits are probably going to make that happen.
I like the fact that the blind will get a device that better accomodates their needs, but something about the way the ACB went about getting this "concession" rubs me the wrong way. Particularly since the concession is that the universities won't use any ereaders at all (even if they are a boon to the partially sighted) until the ereaders better accomodate all of the blind.
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The sad thing is they pulled the trial at some schools till even though Amazon has a sheduled release that addresses all of thier concerns, so everyone has to suffer instead of just allowing it to continue and then roll it out to sight impaired students when the enhancements are rolled out