[Athen] Online eBook Accessibility

Petri, Kenneth petri.1 at osu.edu
Tue Apr 1 09:14:05 PDT 2014


Sean and Krista,

Like Sean, my experience has been that if you have a screen reader turned on, whether in iOS, Android (Kindle HDX or other), or Kindle for PC with Accessibility Plugin, any book -- not just books with TTS enabled by the publisher -- will be able to be read by the TTS.

It appears Amazon is taking the very reasonable approach that if you are using a screen reader, you have a qualifying disability and you should be able to access the book text with your screen reader/TTS.

Best,
ken
[The Ohio State University]
Ken Petri, Program Director
Web Accessibility Center, ADA Coordinator's Office and Office for Disability Services
102D Pomerene Hall | 1760 Neil Ave. Columbus, OH 43210
614-292-1760 Office | 614-218-1499 Mobile | 614-292-4190 Fax
petri.1 at osu.edu<mailto:petri.1 at osu.edu> | wac.osu.edu<http://wac.osu.edu>

From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Sean Keegan
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2014 7:37 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Online eBook Accessibility

I have been able to get a Kindle book that is not TTS enabled to read using NVDA in the Kindle for PC application as well as by using the copy/paste method into other applications. I also got it to work on a Kindle Fire HDX using the Accessibility option in Settings.

I am going to check into any specific settings to see if that may have been the difference. It may be a device-specific issue where the TTS support is either respected or ignored.

take care,
sean

On Mar 28, 2014, at 4:00 PM, "KRISTA L. GREEAR" <greeark at uw.edu<mailto:greeark at uw.edu>> wrote:


It is my understanding that yes, the book have to be TTS enabled by Amazon.

Krista Greear
Access Text & Technology Manager
Disability Resources for Students
(206) 543-8924
disability.wa.edu<http://disability.wa.edu>
________________________________
From: athen-list [athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu>] on behalf of Jeremy Zhe-Heimerman [Jeremy.Zhe-Heimerman at cortland.edu<mailto:Jeremy.Zhe-Heimerman at cortland.edu>]
Sent: Friday, March 28, 2014 12:22 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Online eBook Accessibility
I'm glad to hear that Natural Reader worked for you, as I have many students who prefer that, but I've never been able to get it to work with Kindle to PC, even with the Accessibility Plugin. Did the books have to be TTS enabled by Amazon?

Thanks,

Jeremy Zhe-Heimerman, MS, MAT
Coordinator, Assistive Technology and Test Administration Services
B-204, Memorial Library
SUNY Cortland
81 Prospect Terrace - PO Box 2000
Cortland, NY 13045

Phone: (607) 753-2358
Fax: (607) 753-5495

From: KRISTA L. GREEAR [mailto:greeark at uw.edu<http://uw.edu>]
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 3:31 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] Online eBook Accessibility

I had a similar situation with a student this week. They wanted to be able to use TTS with the Kindle books they purchased. They have the Kindle to PC w/ Accessibility Plug in software on their Windows computer. I tested and was able to get Natural Reader, Balabolka and CAR (Central Access Reader) to read the Kindle book in the Kindle to PC software. The student doesn't want to have to learn how to use a screen reader (VoiceOver or NVDA) as they are sighted and find the additional navigation cues annoying. Thankfully, using Kindle books in this manner prevented the student from having to learn how to use another piece of software as the 3 TTS engines worked for me.

Krista Greear
Access Text & Technology Manager
Disability Resources for Students
(206) 543-8924
disability.wa.edu<http://disability.wa.edu>
________________________________
From: athen-list [athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu>] on behalf of Wink Harner [foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com>]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 12:27 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network
Subject: [Athen] Online eBook Accessibility
Hi out there in ATHEN-Land,

Anyone have any first-hand experience with the use of screen readers or TTS readers with online textbook sources such as:
- Chegg
- CourseSmart
- GooglePlay-
- Kindle
- Kno
- Vital Source

Publisher denied a PDF file and suggested the student purchase one of the electronic versions of the requested book from the sources (above). Student's preference is PDF, but if he can get the file to read aloud, he may be OK. I have asked him for his preference.

What experience do any of you have in the TTS capabilities on any of those e-book sources listed?

Let me know!

Thanks in advance for your collective knowledge.

Wink Harner
foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com>
480-984-0034


_______________________________________________
athen-list mailing list
athen-list at mailman13.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at mailman13.u.washington.edu>
http://mailman13.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20140401/fab60510/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 3605 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20140401/fab60510/attachment.png>


More information about the athen-list mailing list