Author Statement: Kinky Friedman

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At least 15 million Americans cannot read print books. Some cannot because they are blind, dyslexic or have processing or intellectual disabilities. Others, like persons with cerebral palsy or high spinal cord injuries, have neurological or macular problems that make holding a book for periods of time difficult. Still others who are recovering from stroke or undergoing chemotherapy, are temporarily disabled from reading books. The introduction of text-of-speech on a mainstream e-book reader means that for the very first time our neighbors and friends with these disabilities will have the same access to these books at the same price, the same terms and at the same price as everyone else. For the 215,000 children with learning disabilities like dyslexics in Texas, text-to-speech on an e-book reader means the chance to see and hear the words at the same time, a gigantic step in helping them to become much better readers. I have told my publisher not to turn off text-to-speech on my e-books and I urge my fellow authors to do the same.