Civil rights violation at Reed College alleged by Disability Rights Oregon & national advocates

[NOTE: On January 13, 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice announced an agreement on this and several related complaints.]

Disability Rights Oregon (DRO) filed the complaint together with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB).  It is one of five complaints filed against institutions of higher education across the country.

Reed has contracted with Amazon.com, Inc. to provide the Kindle DX to students as part of a pilot project to assess the role of electronic textbooks and reading devices in the classroom; however, students who are blind cannot use the device. The Kindle DX can hold over 3,500 books and also offers a free Web browser.  Students who are able to use it will have access to a variety of functions not available in print textbooks, including a search function, the option to access a dictionary definition or Wikipedia information for any word the student highlights, and the ability to receive electronic documents created by their professors.

The complaint states that the Kindle DX program at Reed violates Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504). Disability Rights Oregon, the NFB and the ACB are asking that Reed be required to ensure that the devices provided to students are accessible.

The Kindle DX has a text-to-speech feature that blind students could use to hear the text; but the feature is rendered useless because the menus (needed to select a book, activate features, customize device settings, etc.) are on-screen only, with no audio option.  If a student cannot see the screen, she cannot know which book she has selected, what the device settings are or how to change them, or how to navigate the on-screen menu.

Action in Other States

Also on June 25 the NFB and ACB filed similar complaints against other institutions of higher education that are deploying the Kindle DX  These are: Case Western Reserve University, the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, Pace University, and Princeton University.  DRO has no role in these complaints.

In addition, the NFB and ACB filed suit in federal court against Arizona State University (ASU) to prevent the university from distributing the Kindle DX as a means of distributing electronic textbooks to its students because the device cannot be used by blind students.  Darrell Shandrow, a blind ASU student, is also a named plaintiff in the action.  DRO is not representing any party in this case. 

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Disability Rights Oregon (DRO) empowers individuals with information and tools for successful self-advocacy, provides legal representation and promotes policies to benefit all Oregonians with disabilities. DRO is the state’s Protection & Advocacy System. All services are provided free of charge.

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