Skip to content

Tag: accessibility

Published October 1, 2013

Get Students a Bookshare Individual Membership at Home!

Throughout October, parents and educators often meet to discuss how students are progressing through the school year. Parent-teacher conferences, IEP meetings, and other face-to-face opportunities are the perfect time to discuss how students can take reading and studying to the next level with Bookshare.  How? Get qualified students access to Bookshare at home. Most of our student members access Bookshare through their school account. This means that educators find and download books for students. A fast growing number of students are also getting individual memberships. This allows them to discover books on their own, download independently, and develop a personal…

Continue readingGet Students a Bookshare Individual Membership at Home!

Leave a Comment
Published September 23, 2013

Objecting to Accessibility Weaseling

Post by Benetech CEO, Jim Fruchterman In early September, the National Federation of the Blind and 22 organizations serving people with disabilities filed detailed objections to a petition from a group of makers of e-reader devices led by Amazon to be exempted from accessibility requirements under the relatively new Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. Benetech was a proud endorser of these objections (under our legal organizational name of Beneficent Technology, Inc.). You might ask: why would an organization that in many ways provides a competitive alternative to e-readers object to e-readers being exempted from accessibility requirements? Wouldn’t that…

Continue readingObjecting to Accessibility Weaseling

5 Comments
Published September 16, 2013

Bookshare Web Reader Lets You READ NOW — it’s Fast and Easy!

Earlier in 2013, we launched the Bookshare Web Reader, a reading tool that lets individual Bookshare members read directly from their Internet browser without installing any reading software. Bookshare Web Reader makes it easy for our individual members to open and read books fast and easily—all you need is a computer with an Internet connection. Students simply go to the Bookshare website on a compatible Internet browser, such as Google Chrome, find a title to read, select “Read Now,” and the book opens! Watch this video to see exactly how Bookshare Web Reader can open a book directly from an…

Continue readingBookshare Web Reader Lets You READ NOW — it’s Fast and Easy!

Leave a Comment
Published September 5, 2013

Please Vote for Our SXSWedu 2014 Panel Today!

Benetech’s Global Literacy Program is asking for your support! A message from Betsy Beaumon, our Vice President and General Manager of the Benetech Global Literacy Program. Please help us put accessible materials on the map at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference. For those of you who may not have heard of it, SXSW is a hugely popular set of music, film, and interactive festivals (and conferences) that take place every spring in Austin, Texas. One of the conferences being held in March 2014, SXSWedu, is focused on innovation in education—a natural fit for the work of the team that…

Continue readingPlease Vote for Our SXSWedu 2014 Panel Today!

2 Comments
Published April 6, 2011

Norman Coombs, Ph.D., Pioneer of Accessibility Teachings for Equal Access

All will agree that some folks just think more brilliantly than others and accomplish things that many of us can only accomplish in our dreams.  These visionaries come up with terrific ideas and take them to unimaginable places.   And when it comes to doing good works with a brilliant passion, Dr. Norman Coombs take the prize. Dr. Coombs is one of our first Bookshare members to download and read digital books. You may not recognize him, but know of his strong advocacy and teachings to educators and faculties on the importance of accessibility issues.  Dr. Coombs has created many accessible…

Continue readingNorman Coombs, Ph.D., Pioneer of Accessibility Teachings for Equal Access

4 Comments