Status Update on Some Issues Related to Our Work - from George Kerscher

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Here is a quick status update on some issues related to our work:

First, as a direct result of our efforts, the accepted practice of reading systems is to allow Text-To-Speech (TTS) whenever a screen reader is present. If the publisher has elected to turn off TTS to the general population, the reading systems will permit TTS to operate if a screen reader is detected. I don't know if this is true for all kinds of Assistive Technology, but certainly true for screen readers.

Blio first announced that they would never turn off TTS to a blind or print disabled person. Apple has also allowed VoiceOver to read the iBooks. Adobe in their newest release of ContentServer has also followed this direction.

Last week, Amazon released "Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin." It can be found at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_pcland_pcaccess?nodeId=200596280&pop-up=1.
I tested this with some free books from the Kindle store. This is a very basic application, but it does work with JAWS and is reported to work with Non Visual Desktop Access (NVDA). It is not working with WindowEyes, but I suspect the next release of WE that supports UI Automation would work as well.

On the download page it reads, "Because this software is an assistive technology, there are no restrictions on text-to-speech reading." I applaud Amazon's effort in this first accessible version. There is plenty of room for improvements, but it is a good start. For example, the table of contents cannot be used to go directly to a chapter, at least in the books I tried. One can move forward and backwards by sentence, and the speed up and slow down of speech is working. It seems that Amazon is looking for feedback, because in the help menu they have a link to future improvements and another for feedback.

In the DAISY world, we continue to encourage DAISY reading systems to support EPUB, the standard for mainstream digital publications. I understand that the following support EPUB today: ReadHere, EaseReader, Victor Stream, Icon, BraillePlus, and Emerson.

George Kerscher Ph.D.
In our Information Age, access to information is a fundamental human right.
Secretary General, DAISY Consortium
http://www.daisy.org
Senior Officer, Accessible Technology Recording For the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D)
http://www.rfbd.org
Chair Steering Council Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a division of the W3C
http://www.w3c.org/wai
President, International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
http://www.idpf.org