Background and History
Blind Americans have been asking Amazon to make its Kindle products accessible for several years now. In 2009, Amazon introduced the first Kindles with text-to-speech output, but blind users could not independently access this feature.Furthermore, under pressure from the Authors Guild , Authors and Publishers Amazon allowed to "turn off" text-to-Speech for specific Books. When Amazon began peddling Kindles to institutions of higher Education, the NFB and brought SuitFiled complaints against several of these institutions. These Claims prompted aJune 29, 2010th Joint Dear Colleague Letter from the Department of Education and the Department of Justice warning Educational institutions not to Purchase Inaccessible Technology. A follow-up FAQ from the Department of Education Made it Clear that the prohibition against the Purchase. of inaccessible technology also applied to libraries and K-12 schools. Despite this, Amazon is now seeking to have Kindle e-books deployed in K-12 schools, and several school districts across the United States have already purchased Kindles and Kindle content or received donations from Amazon.