[nabop] Stedman's word books and drug book not accessible to screenreading software

[Mike Freeman]

Sherry:

It is my opinion (and I am not a lawyer) that the publisher is *not* in 
violation of ADA by not providing accessible material. More 
specifically, the actual limits of ADA in the electronic arena are a 
matter of debate in the courts (can you say Target Lawsuit?) -- the 
debate is whether things like publications and/or electronic web sites 
are places of public accommodation or goods and services within the 
purview of Title III of ADA. In fact, I would argue that books are *not* 
such goods or services in that if they were. *everything* would have to 
be made accessible or put into braille. While this might be desirable, 
you can be sure that had this been the intent of Congress, it would have 
had the fight of the century on its hands and, in any event, I am not 
sure that this is what we really would have wanted in that we would have 
gotten an awful lot of bad braille out of this.

Best bet is just to try to get the publisher to put out an alternative 
for you or, better yet, to try to get the creators of Bookshelf to make 
it accessible to screen-reading software.

Just my $0.02-worth.

Mike Freeman

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Sherri
  To: Multiple recipients of NFBnet nabop Mailing List ; Multiple 
recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List
  Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 4:00 PM
  Subject: [nabop] Stedman's word books and drug book not accessible to 
screenreading software


  Hello list,

  I got word from the person who
  teaches the transcription course for blind people out of Daytona that 
the
  Stedman's word books for 2008 are now using bookshelf, which has been 
used
  in the Quick Look Electronic Drug Reference for the last couple of 
years. I am extremely concerned about
  this and feel we should let them know that this will not work for 
blind
  people using screen-reading software and that they need to provide
  accessible copies of their books for us. Does anyone know who I can 
contact? Are they in any sort of violation of the ADA by producing their 
electronic books in a format we cannot use? Any help would be 
appreciated.


  Sherri

  sbrun at cfl.rr.com

  TO DONATE YOUR USED CELL PHONE AND CHANGE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLIND IN 
CENTRAL FLORIDA go to:







  Whether we succeed or fail in what we do is not the essential thing.

  What is important is the heart with which we live our lives.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  _______________________________________________
  nabop mailing list
  nabop at nfbnet.org
  http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabop
-------------- next part --------------
Sherry:
 
It is my opinion (and I am not a lawyer) that the publisher is *not* in violation of ADA by not providing accessible material. More specifically, the actual limits of ADA in the electronic arena are a matter of debate in the courts (can you say Target Lawsuit?) -- the debate is whether things like publications and/or electronic web sites are places of public accommodation or goods and services within the purview of Title III of ADA. In fact, I would argue that books are *not* such goods or services in that if they were. *everything* would have to be made accessible or put into braille. While this might be desirable, you can be sure that had this been the intent of Congress, it would have had the fight of the century on its hands and, in any event, I am not sure that this is what we really would have wanted in that we would have gotten an awful lot of bad braille out of this.
 
Best bet is just to try to get the publisher to put out an alternative for you or, better yet, to try to get the creators of Bookshelf to make it accessible to screen-reading software.
 
Just my $0.02-worth.
 
Mike Freeman
 
----- Original Message -----
From:
mailto:flmom2006 at gmail.com Sherri
To:
mailto:nabop at nfbnet.org Multiple recipients of NFBnet nabop Mailing List
; mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org Multiple recipients of NFBnet GUI-TALK Mailing List
Sent:
Friday, February 29, 2008 4:00 PM
Subject:
[nabop] Stedman's word books and drug book not accessible to screenreading software
Hello list,
I got word from the person who
teaches the transcription course for blind people out of Daytona that the
Stedman's word books for 2008 are now using bookshelf, which has been used
in the Quick Look Electronic Drug Reference for the last couple of years. I am extremely concerned about
this and feel we should let them know that this will not work for blind
people using screen-reading software and that they need to provide
accessible copies of their books for us. Does anyone know who I can contact? Are they in any sort of violation of the ADA by producing their electronic books in a format we cannot use? Any help would be appreciated.
Sherri
mailto:sbrun at cfl.rr.com sbrun at cfl.rr.com
TO DONATE YOUR USED CELL PHONE AND CHANGE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLIND IN CENTRAL FLORIDA go to:
 
 
Whether we succeed or fail in what we do is not the essential thing.
What is important is the heart with which we live our lives.
_______________________________________________
nabop mailing list
mailto:nabop at nfbnet.org nabop at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabop http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabop