On November 11, 2009, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) applauded the decision of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University to reject Amazon's Kindle DX as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to their students. The Kindle DX text-to-speech technology can read textbooks aloud. However, the menus of the device are not accessible to the blind, preventing blind users from purchasing books from Amazon's Kindle store, selecting a book to read, and even activating the text-to-speech feature (which one would have thought to be an accessibility selling point). Both universities have experimented with the Kindle DX to learn whether e-book technology is useful to their students. But the schools will not adopt the device for general use unless and until it is made accessible to blind students.
NFB President Dr. Marc Maurer commended the universities "for rejecting broad deployment of the Kindle DX in its current form because it cannot be used by blind students and therefore denies the blind equal access to electronic textbooks. We do not oppose electronic textbooks; in fact, they hold great promise for blind students if they are accessible.
But as long as the interface of the Kindle DX is inaccessible to the blind -- denying blind students access to electronic textbooks or the advanced features available to read and annotate them -- it is our position that no university should consider this device to be a viable e-book solution for its students."
University of Wisconsin-Madison Director of Libraries Ken Frazier said: "The big disappointment was learning that the Kindle DX is not accessible to the blind. Advancements in text-to-speech technology have created a market opportunity for an e-book reading device that is fully accessible for everyone. I think that there will be a huge payoff for the company that creates a truly universal e-book reader."
Syracuse University Director of Communications and External Relations Pamela McLaughlin explained: "We have no plans to purchase any more of these units in light of the fact that they are inaccessible to blind students. If Syracuse University decides to use e-book technology on campus, we will require technology that can be used by all of our students, including those who are blind."