[gui-talk] Fwd: National Federation of the Blind and Motorola toCooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind

[Wayne Merritt]

I agree. What would carry more weight IMO is a press release from the
cell manufacturer/provider  themselves announcing a collaborative
effort, and not just the release from the NFB. I'm all for the NFB
keeping me up to date on current phone accessibility, but let's hear
from other manufacturers/providers as well regarding access to their
phones.

Jmt,
Wayne

On 9/14/09, Joel Deutsch <jdeutsch at dslextreme.com> wrote:
> This is encouraging, although as someone who's been using an LG phone from
> Verizon offering most of these capabilities if you're given  clear
> instructions and are willing to put up with not being able to get more than
> one or two levels into most menus on the phone, I'd like to know more
> details. Like whether what Motorola plans to offer next calendar year will
> offer much more than this, which I hope, and also which carriers will market
> the phones in question. As is often the case, a press release from the NFB
> is encouraging news, but I also look  forward to more informative articles
> about this as time goes on.
> Joel
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Pattison" <srp at internode.on.net>
> To: "Access L" <access-l at access-l.com>; "VIP L" <vip-l at softspeak.com.au>
> Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 4:23 PM
> Subject: [gui-talk] Fwd: National Federation of the Blind and Motorola
> toCooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind
>
>
> From:    Freeh, Jessica JFreeh at nfb.org
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> CONTACT:
>
> Chris Danielsen
> Director of Public Relations
> National Federation of the Blind
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
> cdanielsen at nfb.org
>
> Jennifer Erickson
> Motorola, Inc.
> (847) 435-5320
> Jennifer.erickson at motorola.com
>
> National Federation of the Blind and Motorola
>   to Cooperate on Making Cell Phones Accessible to the Blind
>
> Baltimore, Maryland and Libertyville, Illinois (September 14, 2009):
> The National Federation of the Blind, the nation's oldest and largest
> organization of blind people and the leading advocate for making
> mainstream devices accessible to the blind, and Motorola Inc., a
> leading manufacturer of cell phones and other mobile communications
> devices, announced today that they have entered into a cooperation
> agreement to promote technologies that improve the accessibility of
> cell phones to blind consumers.
>
> Certain future Motorola cell phones will provide verbal readouts of
> information such as the time and date, battery level, signal
> strength, user's phone number, caller ID information for incoming
> calls, missed and received calls, and voice mail alerts.  Blind users
> will also be able to take advantage of verbal readouts and
> voice-command features for ring tone status, inputting and accessing
> contacts, and various other settings.  Motorola expects these cell
> phones to be available in 2010.  The parties have also agreed to work
> together to make additional phones and features accessible to blind users.
>
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
> said: "In an age where productivity and success increasingly depend
> on access to mobile technology such as cellular telephones, it is
> critical that blind Americans have equal access to today's cell
> phones through user interfaces that do not require vision.  The
> National Federation of the Blind appreciates Motorola's commitment to
> making the features of its cell phone products accessible to blind
> users without the need for third-party software, and we look forward
> to working together with Motorola to make future improvements to the
> accessibility of telecommunication technology."
>
> Regards Steve
> Email:  srp at internode.on.net
> MSN Messenger:  internetuser383 at hotmail.com
> Skype:  steve1963
> Twitter:  steve9782
>
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