Not all blind people (blind not being a binary condition with “sighted” btw) are braille users.
As pointed out, not everyone who is blind reads braille. Of those who do, skill at braille is quite variable. Someone who was born blind and has used braille for all their schooling through college will be quite adept. Someone blinded at, say, 19 may well struggle with braille during their college years.
Not all materials are available in braille
While there are services that will convert textbooks into braille, this takes time and may not be prompt enough for a student to be able to complete coursework
Likewise, there are services that convert books into audio recordings, but again this takes some time.
There is software and devices that can read printed text, but such machines can be cumbersome, are imperfect, and don’t work well if at all with on-screen text.
There is software to convert text to speech on a computer… but apparently this can not be loaded onto a Kindle. Apparently there is no mechanism by which to make the table of contents and control features of a Kindle accessible to a blind user, therefore, the machine is pretty effing useless to someone blind.
If the ONLY source of course materials is a Kindle then you have just barred every blind person from taking that course. That is a direct violation of several US laws regarding education and accessibility.
If the Kindle can accommodate audio recordings of books then ONLY reason it can’t have a speaking feature for the device controls is careless indifference. It just didn’t occur to the makers to include such a thing. This is a common failing of the able-bodied and sensory-intact population.
Yes, absolutely the makers of the Kindle should have fix this. There is NO technological barrier, it’s just laziness and lack of empathy.
(Cynical answer) Universities don’t want to violate the ADA.
(Respectful answer) Universities don’t want to single out and punish one small group of students, arbitrarily – this wouldn’t lend well to fostering dignity and value in the university community.
Another thing about braille is that it is to bulky to carry around.
However, a refreshable braille display is not (they are tres expensive, though). Making Kindle-bound books compatible with products such as the Victor Reader (or the Victor Stream) by Simple Human might make this entire dispute moot.
It would be a simple matter of providing a licensing key, and the copyright holder wouldn’t even need to forego the revenue on the product.
I forgot about the refreshable displays.
Anyway, back to the question
The point here is technology should be made useable to everyone from the beginning so that you do not have to retrofit technology latter. It is good for everyone-not just those with a disability. It is Universal Design