Amazon, Kobo and Sony request e-readers be exempt from accessibility laws

[crich70]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I totally agree with the coalition. If people want accessibility, they can get tablets or other specialty devices. Leave ereaders alone.

Check back with the rest of us in 20 or 30 yrs when your eye sight isn't as keen and you might have changed your mind tubemonkey. As people age they often develop vision problems which could fit under the heading of disabilities. And what if a person has something like MD and can't hold a heavy tablet as a result? Ereaders are fairly lite weight in comparison. Or if they have a bad case of arthritic hands?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by crich70

Check back with the rest of us in 20 or 30 yrs when your eye sight isn't as keen and you might have changed your mind tubemonkey. As people age they often develop vision problems which could fit under the heading of disabilities. And what if a person has something like MD and can't hold a heavy tablet as a result? Ereaders are fairly lite weight in comparison. Or if they have a bad case of arthritic hands?

I'll be dead in 20 years (I'm 60+) ...besides, my Kindle is already capable of enlarging the font size to the point where I get less than 10 words per page. What more do you want?

[BadBilly]

Just ridiculous to expect this. There are plenty of other options for people who want tablets. Like...buying tablets. And anecdotes about your friend who does such and such are irrelevant. The 99.99% need not bend to the minority.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I'll be dead in 20 years (I'm 60+) ...besides, my Kindle is already capable of enlarging the font size to the point where I get less than 10 words per page. What more do you want?

Well it would be nice if they put back the TTS option on ereaders. Besides you never know you might live to 120 with how medical tech. is progressing these days.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by BadBilly

Just ridiculous to expect this. There are plenty of other options for people who want tablets. Like...buying tablets. And anecdotes about your friend who does such and such are irrelevant. The 99.99% need not bend to the minority.

i was under the impression (from reading other threads) that those of us who read are ourselves in the minority.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by crich70

i was under the impression (from reading other threads) that those of us who read are ourselves in the minority.

But we're a majority minority - the big fish in a small pond

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Teknikal

Could be the death of eink at least as far as readers go, I can't see manufacturers making what's in essence a tablet then giving it an e-ink screen which would be useless for internet, video etc they would want to appeal to the mass market more.

Doesn't really bother me but I do like eink for mainly the battery life this move would likely kill that also even if the eink screens stayed.

The K2 and K3 had TTS and the battery life was just fine. I know folks who used TTS at the gym because it would turn the page on the book for them so they didn't have to take their hand off whatever piece of equipment they were using. They set the speed based on their reading pace, truned the volume down, and ran while reading without worry. None of them reported the battery draining all that quickly.

So, let me repeat, that Amazon had TTS and it worked just fine. They did not have TTS for the menu screen and that made it non-compliant and lead to legal challenges when Kindles were given to students in schools during pilot studies.

TTS is viable on an ereader.

It does not kill memory space, the K3 had a ton of memory. I think it might have more memory then the K4 and possibly the PW.

It does not hurt battery life. The K3 worked just fine and there were no complaints about its battery life.

It can be ignored by those of us blessed to not need it.

It can be used in innovative ways for those of us who don't need it but want to use the eliptical or treadmill without any concerns.

It could provide people with disabilities an even less expensive avenue to listen to books because it is 1) less expensive then a tablet 2) ebooks tend to be less expensive then audio books 3) not every book is available as an audio book 4) People who put books on tape for folks with disabilities can be slow in reading the books (textbook reading can really lag behind)

So if it doesn't add anything to what you pay for the device, doesn't take up memory space, doesn't hurt your battery usage why are so many people invested in agreeing with these companies that it is ok to limit what the device can do for peopel with disabilities?

Seriously, the Kindle had TTS, it worked fine, books were limited on it by Publishers which made it less effective. Why does anyone really think that this is an onerous request by anyone?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

So, let me repeat, that Amazon had TTS and it worked just fine. They did not have TTS for the menu screen and that made it non-compliant and lead to legal challenges when Kindles were given to students in schools during pilot studies.

The bolded portion above is not true for the K3 or the Fires. They do have TTS for the menus...it's called "Voice Guide". My blind uncle uses it on my Aunt's Kindle 3.

Shari

[speakingtohe]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The K2 and K3 had TTS and the battery life was just fine. I know folks who used TTS at the gym because it would turn the page on the book for them so they didn't have to take their hand off whatever piece of equipment they were using. They set the speed based on their reading pace, truned the volume down, and ran while reading without worry. None of them reported the battery draining all that quickly.

So, let me repeat, that Amazon had TTS and it worked just fine. They did not have TTS for the menu screen and that made it non-compliant and lead to legal challenges when Kindles were given to students in schools during pilot studies.

TTS is viable on an ereader.

It does not kill memory space, the K3 had a ton of memory. I think it might have more memory then the K4 and possibly the PW.

It does not hurt battery life. The K3 worked just fine and there were no complaints about its battery life.

It can be ignored by those of us blessed to not need it.

It can be used in innovative ways for those of us who don't need it but want to use the eliptical or treadmill without any concerns.

It could provide people with disabilities an even less expensive avenue to listen to books because it is 1) less expensive then a tablet 2) ebooks tend to be less expensive then audio books 3) not every book is available as an audio book 4) People who put books on tape for folks with disabilities can be slow in reading the books (textbook reading can really lag behind)

So if it doesn't add anything to what you pay for the device, doesn't take up memory space, doesn't hurt your battery usage why are so many people invested in agreeing with these companies that it is ok to limit what the device can do for peopel with disabilities?

Seriously, the Kindle had TTS, it worked fine, books were limited on it by Publishers which made it less effective. Why does anyone really think that this is an onerous request by anyone?

I think it I the web browser having to have TTS. This would not be very useful IMO to the blind, on an ereader, but maybe it would be. Still very difficult to use.

The MFGs could probably implement it but make it useful?

Helen

Helen

[petrucci]

It is sad that these companies want an exemption, rather than help people with disabilities. It is stuff like this that gives big companies a bad name.

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by petrucci

It is sad that these companies want an exemption, rather than help people with disabilities. It is stuff like this that gives big companies a bad name.

With all the recent advances in technologies (in particular handheld-sized technologies), one has to ask the question if being ACS-compliant could be such a burden (technologically and price-wise).

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Alexander Turcic

With all the recent advances in technologies (in particular handheld-sized technologies), one has to ask the question if being ACS-compliant could be such a burden (technologically and price-wise).

What does "ACS-compliant" mean? What is the definition?

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by tompe

What does "ACS-compliant" mean? What is the definition?

That's a very good question, and strangely, the coalition fails to specifically name the features that they would like to waive requirements for.

Generally speaking, the ACS accessibility requirement is that IP-based communication be accessible and usable to individuals with disabilities (ACS stands for Advanced Communications Services). So VoIP clients, chat clients, email clients, browsers, and such. See here for more:

http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/adva...s-services-acs

[GlennD]

There are also technologies on the horizon that might be impacted by whatever ruling comes down. For example, flexible eink screens. If you're trying to make a device as light and flexible as possible, being required to include the hardware for audio could heavily affect your design.

How about this: they ought to provide reasonable accommodations.

As far as I can tell most, if not all, of the chipsets used in ereaders are capable of audio output. The vendors are simply choosing not to expose this functionality to the user. There are also FLOSS TTS options out there. Given that these vendors are already using FLOSS code in their devices, adding one more component shouldn't be an issue.

As far as I can tell most, if not all, of the chipsets provide USB host mode. This can be used to interface to external braille and TTS devices if the appropriate code is added to the system. I'm fairly certain that there FLOSS code that handles part of this, so it shouldn't be very burdensome. The USB host mode can also be used to add special input devices as an alternative to touch displays for people with limited mobility.

As far as I can tell most, if not all, ereaders can enlarge fonts and change the fonts to better suit people with low vision. That is great, except it has to be extended from the ebook viewer to the user interface.

There is a lot of low hanging fruit when it comes down to accessibility. I cannot think of a good reason why businesses shouldn't be obligated to address that functionality when it reflects the intended function of the device.