A matter of Perspective
Folks--Your remarks are sincerely appreciated, but please allow me to clarify some points here.
I have absolutely nothing against Braille. After all, I have read and written it for most of my life. I remember toting Braille books to and from school, but I would rather not do that again. If I really had my way, I would have all the Braille I wanted or needed, but I do not have room for countless Braille volumes, especially in an efficiency apartment, nor could I afford to rent extra storage space. Besides, to arrange for halling my Braille stuff to and from the post office is a real pain in the butt. Therefore, I would rather use an electronic Braille device. However, the problem here is expense, as in thousands of dollars to purchase a low end paperless Braille notetaker. The Department for the Blind will not give these away for charitable reasons, but only if one really needs it for a full time job, something else which cannot be had as though jobs were "2 for 1" at the grocery store, especially in these harsh economic times. Hopefully, somehow, these electronic Braille devices would come down in price, and that funding would be made available to help purchase these for those Braille readers who do need them.
As for the TTS on any off-the-shelf device? Having this accessibility feature active does not imply that the reader is getting the book for free. If a blind person can also have equal access to the same security measures built into these devices, then purchasing electronic books is no different than for sighted readers. All we are asking is independent access (not having to depend on others to read and manipulate the device for us) to the same book titles as anybody else, not free copies as special or charitable preference.
I think this is pronounced "CAPTIA." It's the technical term or acronym for the character codes that one must copy in order to access some Web sites. These codes are displayed in a picture or "painted" format that is not readable by JAWS and other assistive technologies. It's like running your hand on an electronic display without Braille or tactile marking to guide you. In some cases, graphical user interfaces that move around or change cannot be Brailled. Example: Braille on ATM machines makes as much sense as a screen door on a submarine. Once I rented a house with some other guys. The kitchen contained a late model Whirlpool stove. The burners I could use because I could set the knobs to the appropriate heat settings. The oven, however, was one of those silly GUI jobs, as I could not feel a pointer or change in numbers to set the time and temperatures. So I had to ask a roommie to set it so I could cook a pizza or something else in the oven.
I'll leave you some relevant Web resources. Again, I am not offended by your comments. After all, it is not the unpardonable sin to be ignorant and misunderstand some issues here. I have also been there and done that.
First, I'll share the link for the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped.--Laundry Shark
http://www.loc.gov/nls
