By David Faucheux, a freelance audiobook reviewer for Library Journal. The views are only his and not necessarily LJ’s.
I’ve been blind most of my life. But I hold a masters degree in library and information science and am comfortable with tech although I’m not a full-fledged expert.
TeleRead asked me in July if I would consider reviewing the recently released $70 basic Amazon Kindle. It brings back the text-to-speech accessibility that had existed in older versions. But there is an ugly Catch 22 for blind people.
Just how can we benefit from the built-in audio VoiceView tutorial and related guidance in the already-loaded users’ guide if we don’t know how to use the screen reader in the first place? You must drill down too far in the menus to reach text-to-speech features.
Unfortunately this typifies Amazon’s seeming lack of understanding and empathy in considering the needs of blind people. My Kindle arrived several weeks ago…
View original post 2,252 more words