[announce] Response to Byron York Article

[Mitch Pomerantz]

Colleagues:
 
The following was sent to Byron York, Chief Political Correspondent for the
Washington Examiner, in response to his recent article relative to
denigrating our efforts to assure that the Kindle is fully accessible.
 
I want to publicly thank both Marlaina Lieberg and Melanie Brunson for their
tremendous assistance in making sure ACB made its point to Mr. York.
 
 
Mitch Pomerantz, President
American Council of the Blind
 
 

                     American Council of the Blind

 
____________________________________________________

 

                             2200 Wilson Blvd., Suite 650 . Arlington, VA
22201 . Tel: (202) 467-5081  Fax: (703) 465-5085

 

 




Via e-mail to  <mailto:byork at washingtonexaminer.com>
byork at washingtonexaminer.com

 

Byron York

Chief Political Correspondent

The Examiner

 

Dear Mr. York,

 

I am writing on behalf of the American Council of the Blind, (ACB) one of
two major national membership organizations in the United States composed of
people who are blind.  ACB is part of the Reading Rights Coalition, and one
of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the
Blind to which you refer in your recent column regarding access to the
Amazon Kindle. I write to you with the intent of setting the record straight
on an issue that is critically important to many thousands of blind or
visually impaired people across this country and its entire political
spectrum.

 

Your characterization of the universities'' proposed use of the Kindle as
"just an experiment" implies that it did not merit the fuss, attention or
public recognition it received.  I suspect that, had this "experiment" not
been halted and the universities moved ahead with their plan to issue the
Amazon Kindle or similar devices, you would join the chorus of those who
would hail it as a boon to educational institutions and students alike.  

 

It is clear to anyone who follows technology trends that traditional print
pages of all kinds are rapidly being supplanted by electronic
communications, and there is no place where this trend could have greater
benefit than academia. Our goal in weighing in on this matter was simple.
Since blind people depend on educational opportunities as much as their
sighted peers to succeed as productive tax-paying members of society, trends
that can make or break those opportunities are ones that we must address,
and must do so before it is too late.

 

To suggest that we should sit quietly while six major universities initiate
programs that encourage the use of nontraditional textbooks, because "it's
only an experiment," misses the point of the "experiment" and ignores its
potential impact on higher education.  This "experiment" was proposed solely
for the purpose of offering a viable alternative which, if successful, could
be adopted not only on a wider scale within those six universities, but
promoted by Amazon to other schools.  If the blind of this country had said,
it doesn't concern us, we would have been kidding ourselves and performing a
heinous disservice to the thousands of blind students who could very quickly
have found themselves denied access to courses and course
materials/textbooks.  People who are blind represent the full spectrum of
society; we are doctors, lawyers, engineers, writers, reporters, housewives,
public servants and more. We hold the same expectation of full and equal
participation in educational opportunity, and ability to work and pursue our
life goals as you who see. Most people  who are blind are, like most sighted
persons, tax-paying citizens who seek not a handout, but rather, a fair
opportunity at achieving their goals. Your assertion is, therefore, very
short sighted. 

 

Since you appear to be aware of much of the interaction between our
community and the proponents of the Kindle, allow me to further enlighten
you by pointing out that Amazon and the universities you reference were each
contacted regarding our concerns prior to the filing of any litigation, and
certainly prior to the involvement of the United States Department of
Justice.  Each chose to ignore our attempts to address and resolve these
concerns.   It was not until after the lawsuit was filed that Amazon agreed
to address accessibility issues in a later generation of its device.  Had we
thought the market would address these issues on its own, believe me, we
would have found other uses for our very limited and precious funds. 

 

On a related note, your column contains an assertion that most websites are
already accessible.  Regrettably, there is no mandate for website architects
to follow existing standards ensuring website accessibility. Thus, we are
faced with barriers such as visual images known as captcha which must be
successfully identified before accounts can be opened or certain websites
can be joined, links whose labels are identified only by images with no "alt
text" labels, shopping sites whose carts are completely graphically designed
with no text labels and more. Blindness access devices such as screen
readers and braille displays (for which we pay thousands of dollars beyond
the cost of the computer itself) can become useless all because existing
standards are ignored. With respect, I submit to you that you likely have
little experience functioning in the world of blindness access, and have not
taken the time or given us the courtesy to learn and understand the access
issues with which we grapple on a daily basis. You are a journalits, and I
submit to you that it is irresponsible journalism to make statements like
those in your column without having done your homework.

 

For all of these reasons, we are very disturbed by your statements that
minimize and politicize the very real concerns of blind Americans.   

 

I invite you to take the time to understand these issues, which will then
afford you the opportunity to publish a second and more factual column
dealing with the reality of the lack of access, the lack of responsiveness
our efforts have met, and the real reason why the United States Department
of Justice is assisting in this effort. We at the American Council of the
Blind stand prepared to assist you to learn, grow and create a column which
will speak factually, rather than one which politicizes an issue so critical
to the lives of blind Americans. After all, our numbers are increasing due
to the men and women who are returning from Iraq and Afghanastan blinded in
the service of this great country, and the fact that the leading cause of
legal blindness is aging. The ball is in your court.

 

Mitch Pomerantz, President

 <mailto:mitch.pomerantz at earthlink.net> mitch.pomerantz at earthlink.net

Melanie Brunson, Executive Director

 <mailto:mbrunson at acb.org> mbrunson at acb.org

 

 

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