Two universities to shun Kindle until Amazon makes e-reader accessible to blind users

Schools shun Kindle, saying blind can’t use it

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon’s Kindle can read books aloud, but if you’re blind it can be difficult to turn that function on without help. Now two universities plan to shun the device until Amazon changes the setup.

The National Federation of the Blind planned to announce Wednesday that the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Syracuse University won’t consider rolling out the Kindle to students unless Amazon makes the gadget more accessible to visually impaired users.

Both schools have some Kindles that they bought for students to try this fall, but said they won’t look into buying more unless Amazon makes changes to the device.

Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener said the company is working to make the device more accessible to visually impaired users.