COAT Affiliate ICDRI Calls For Ending E-Book Famine For People with Disabilities

After applying for and receiving accreditation, COAT affiliate ICDRI weighed in with a strong statement at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) conference on a proposed international treaty about intellectual property limitations and exceptions on December 15, 2009. ICDRI, however, re-framed the treaty as "the sharing of accessible works."

In her speech in Geneva, Switzerland, ICDRI's Cynthia Waddell cited to the Kindle E-book controversy where the text-to-speech (TTS) feature has been turned off. She described this as a growing problem creating "a book famine" for users with disabilities that must be ended now. She asserted that the situation "demonstrates the unwillingness of rightsholders to recognize [disability] human rights."

Read full ICDRI statement in attachment below. See earlier story on other COAT participation at this significant UN World Intellectual Property Organization. For more on the E-book controversy, visit the Reading Rights Coalition (RRC) website. Note: many COAT affiliates are also RRC members.

COAT has long endorsed and supports efforts to ensure text-to-speech (TTS) as an accessibility and usability feature on all types of devices and appliances for people both with and without disabilities.

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ICDRI WIPO Statement in support of the Proposed Treaty.txt	3.13 KB

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i'm glad she said this was

Submitted by Tina Azid (not verified) on Mon, 01/25/2010 - 07:26.

i'm glad she said this was an e-book famine. the way this industry is going they are not thinking of us disability people at all. Why do they think they can ignore us? Are they stupid? At the least why are they not thinking of children who are in spec ed and need all the tools they can get. i'm so sick of how every new thing that comes out has a problem with it.