In a very sad blow to accessibility for low vision and blind readers, Amazon.com has opted to allow publishers to decide whether or not the Kindle 2′s text-to-speech functionality can be used on their individual titles.

Earlier this month, we reported on the fact the the Author’s Guild was speaking out against the text-to-speech capabilities of the new Kindle 2 book reader from Amazon. They ridiculously claim that text-to-speech is equivalent to a human performance of the material, and by extension, are excluding the visually impaired from access to electronic materials.

In this New York Times blog post, you can read more of the details regarding Amazon’s decision.

Situations like this one could negatively impact access to both electronic text materials and mobile devices for the blind and visually impaired for years to come. We strongly encourage anyone who feels that there should be equal access for all to printed materials to contact the Author’s Guild and voice your thoughts.