Bookshare Announcements

The Bookshare team has been attending the summer conventions of the two major blind consumer groups, the NFB and ACB. We had great user parties, listened to our users and talked to other key players in the accessibility field.

We also announced a couple of assistive technology partnerships. The
first release was about support for mobile phone use with software developer Code Factory of Spain. It still takes downloading the book to a PC and transferring it to the cell phone, but I'm looking forward to getting rid of that extra step!

The second announcement was by Plextor of Japan, about their new ebook player that will play Bookshare books. The device also allows users to record their own audio books.

The last item I wanted to highlight was a White House blog post with President Obama hosting a delegation of people who are both deaf and blind. I was just delighted to see this quote from the post:

This visit was not and should not be viewed as a sympathetic thing for the President to do. Rather, it reflects this President’s commitment to, and understanding of, the desire for all people with disabilities to be fully integrated into society.

Amen!