You can also point out that I phones and other appe devices are expensive and not all blind persons can afford such technology so it would be in their best interests to make their stuff more accessible.
On 9 Aug 2013, at 11:11 AM, Nicholas Parsons <mr.nicholas.pars...@gmail.com> wrote: > HI, > > This is really interesting. I just have a couple of points to make. > > 1. I hope this doesn't mean that if Amazon is unsuccessful in getting the > exemption it will stop supporting VoiceOver on its iOS app. > > 2. I really respect the fact that you're making your voice heard to the FCC. > However, I would respectfully suggest that you consider changing the angle of > your submission a little. Instead of focusing on publicly available > information, instead focus on what the FCC can only get from you. > 2.1. The thrust of Amazong and friends' argument is that blind people don't > use e-readers anyway, so why make them accessible? You should explain to the > FCC that in fact you and many blind people love using e-readers and receive > an enormous benefit from using e-readers. Explain the benefit of electronic > books to blind people. > 2.2. Explain how these e-readers would give blind people equal access to many > more books than they would otherwise be able to access. > 2.3. Explain how blind people would benefit from the same aspects of an > e-reader that sighted people benefit from, namely that they are more simple > than ordinary tablet computers as they focus solely on reading, they have > better battery life, are lighter, and are less expensive. > 2.4. Amazong also tries to argue that e-readers do not run apps like other > tablet computers. Explain that this does not matter for blind people, that > blind users do not want e-readers to use other apps, but simply to read > electronic books in an accessible manner, through the use of text-to-speech > technology or external third party braille displays. > 2.5. Saying that Apple makes its products accessible and keeps its costs the > same as its competitors is unhelpful, and may actually be misleading. Apple's > prices are generally more expensive than it's competitors. We don't know how > easily or otherwise Apple makes its products accessible, or how expensive > this is. All we know is that they do it well. But Amazon's argument is that > Apple's products are more advanced machines with better processors and so > they can support accessibility, whereas its e-readers are designed to use > more basic components to keep costs down and increase battery life. In any > case, this issue is really one for experts to advise the FCC on. The blind > community is better off giving assistance to the FCC by explaining how and > why we use e-readers. > > Those are just my suggestions. I hope they are of some help. I'd be keen to > discuss the issue further as I think it's a really interesting one and you're > doing a great thing by making the voice of the blind community heard. Thanks > for your work! > > Best, > Nic > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
