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Nine disability groups have written to US publishers urging them not to opt out of the 'text to speech' function on its e-books for the Amazon Kindle.
TechFlash reports that the groups are demanding a full restoration of the feature, hailing it as a "momentous" development for the blind and others.
The Authors Guild had complained that text-to-speech threatened to undermine the market for audiobooks without duly compensating authors and publishers. Amazon then backtracked, allowing authors and publishers to decide themselves whether to activate text-to-speech on Kindle titles.
However, disability groups, including the National Federation of the Blind and the International Dyslexia Association sent letters to publishers demanding they opt in with every title. The letter to Simon & Schuster said: "For a terribly long time those with print disabilities have been consigned to alternative formats with limited choices on expensive special purpose machines. Now that the opportunity for mainstream access to books on equal terms is possible, this community will not allow publishers and authors to deny them the right to read."
It continued: "Should the publishing industry and Amazon accede to the Authors Guild’s stance and deny persons with disabilities the service of mobile access to e-books it offers to the public, they will be at risk of violating state civil rights laws that guarantee equal access to persons with disabilities, including the Massachusetts Equal Rights Act, California’s Unruh Act, the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, and the Kentucky Civil Rights Act."
Other publishers who received letters include Simon & Schuster, Random House, Penguin, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Hachette Book Group.