Blind-friendly candidates lose e-book-related election

Details via the TeleRead Web Log. Accessibility is an issue very dear to me and, I know, to the blind readers of David F's blog. Perhaps 70 percent of America's blind people are unemployed, and what better way to improve themselves than through books with which speech synthesizers get along well?

That's not the reality today, however, thanks partly to a less-than-fully-committed standards effort over the years from the International Digital Publishing Forum. Alas, in the just-finished election, IDPF members failed to re-elect board member George Kerscher--a blind man who is a prominent disability advocate within the tech community. Once the IDPF had even chosen George as chair, but I guess priorities change. Yes, for the benefit of the sighted, that's George in the photo.

A second blind-friendly candidate, Mark Carey, also lost. While the e-book industry is getting better, it still has a long way to go toward full accessibility.

One result is that David F can't be nearly as productive as a super-gifted book reviewer as he could be if true e-book standards existed.

Luckily another e-book standards group has emerged, the OpenReader Consortium, in which I'm involved along with Mark and others; and we'll cherish particpation by blind people and others with print-related impairments.

- Text by David Rothman