Accessibility in the News—1/26/18.

A Caution for Developers: Beyond Web Content, Tech Platform Hit with ADA Lawsuit

Two events this week could give technology platform developers pause, and perhaps extra motivation to consider accessibility for all online content.

The first is the final settlement of a case involving BarBri, the host of the country’s largest bar exam preparation course. Blind law students won their 2016 lawsuit against the course provider, alleging that Dallas-based BarBri “not only failed to ensure equal and timely access to…digital resources and other course materials, but refused to take corrective action after being notified, inhibiting the students’ ability to effectively prepare for the bar exam.” Materials included online chat rooms, online and mobile resources, and digital platforms for assessing progress.

The second development is a new approach from a plaintiff that has been extensively involved in ADA lawsuits for website accessibility. A case filed this week targets not just the business owner of the website, but the web developer and the underlying platform provider. The online accessibility litigation net has just been cast a little wider, and all those involved in online development should consider evaluating their approaches to making products and services accessible according to internationally recognized guidelines, namely WCAG.

Updated federal guidelines for technology accessibility took effect on Thursday. The “Section 508 Refresh” applies to federal agencies, as well as state and local agencies that accept federal funds. (For an outline of these changes, see our CTO’s article, “Section 508 Refresh: How WCAG Impacts Federal Website Accessibility Requirements.”) The education sector is continuing to experience Office of Civil Rights investigations into the accessibility of both K-12 and college websites, though many institutions of higher education continue to be at the forefront of providing accessible services, both online and off.

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“An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

National News (U.S.)

3 Important Reasons to Make Your Mobile Website Accessible | Source: Microassist

Internet users are on their mobile devices more than their desktops, and spending on mobile marketing is outpacing that of desktop marketing. With Google search algorithms favoring mobile-friendly content, it’s no wonder that organizations are developing their standard websites with mobile visitors in mind. But just because your website can display on a mobile device—whether it be a tablet or smartphone or wearable—that doesn’t mean that your users are having an ideal experience. Mobile plays a central role in providing an unprecedented degree of autonomy to individuals with disabilities, and they can provide access to information and services that might otherwise be unavailable without reliance on other people or transportation systems…

Federal complaint prompts changes to Lafayette Parish School System website

January 18, 2018 | Source: The Daily Advertiser

The Lafayette Parish School System is making changes to its website amid concerns about its accessibility to people with disabilities. Last year, the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights received a formal complaint that several portions of the LPSS site were “inaccessible to individuals with vision disabilities, print disabilities, physical impairments and hearing impairments,” according to OCR records. OCR investigators looked into the matter and found some “compliance concerns.”…

Tech Platforms and Website Developers Targeted in Emerging Wave of Website Accessibility Litigation

January 18, 2018 | Source: Fredrikson & Byron

In a shift from previous tactics, blind plaintiff Juan Carlos Gil sued the underlying platform provider and website developer in his website accessibility/Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit, in addition to the specific business promoted by a particular website. (Gil v. Sabre Technologies and Wet Willies, S.D. Florida, filed January 12, 2018.) This case should serve as a wake-up call to website developers, platform providers and agencies that they, too, are at risk of being swept up in the surge of website accessibility litigation that has impacted virtually every major public-facing brand and website…

New federal accessibility requirements take effect

January 18, 2018 | Source: State Scoop & Fed Scoop

On Thursday, the federal government’s new Section 508 standards took effect, requiring compliance from agencies, and any state or locality that accepts federal funding, to ensure their digital services are accessible to people with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. As part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the guidelines are aimed at helping seeing- and hearing-impaired users access information on government websites, apps and other digital media…

Plan to make Olli more accessible to everyone—’A sea change of transportation’

January 20, 2018 | Source: Post-Bulletin & Sanvada Tech News

Compared to the thousands of high-tech exhibits at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, people found something very different at the #AccessibleOlli exhibit. “Usually CES is about asking people to just look at your shiny new widget,” IBM Rochester’s Eric Jenney. “We think it’s more enjoyable to making people think.” Perry Dykes, who works with Jenney on the IBM Rochester Internet of Things team, made it clear to the people in long lines waiting go through the #AccessibleOlli prototype exhibit they helped create…

Litigation over website accessibility for the blind, other ADA rules, could remain unsettled

January 21, 2018 | Source: Cook County Record

In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to stop drafting new regulations on the accessibility of “websites, furniture and non-fixed equipment,” a labor and employment attorney says this area of law could remain open for a while, as the courts work through the questions in a patchwork of judicial decisions. “Those decisions will very likely be inconsistent across judicial circuits on some key issues,” said Minh Vu, with Seyfarth Shaw LLP. “In the meantime, plaintiffs will take advantage of the uncertainty and file more lawsuits.”…

This blind Facebook employee is developing tech for sightless

January 21, 2018 | Source: The Week & Your Story

blind Facebook employee is developing a technology that will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to verbalise the content of an image or video and enable the visually impaired to “see” and determine appropriate content for people and advertisers. Facebook engineer Matt King is leading a project that is making solutions for visually impaired people on the platform that could eventually be used to identify images and videos that violate Facebook’s terms of use or that advertisers want to avoid…

The Accessibility of Art: Who Gets to Touch Art…and Women

January 22, 2018 | Source: Crixeo

In the Getty Villa in Malibu stands a statue just asking to be touched (literally — the sign says Please Touch!). Near the far end of the Outer Peristyle, away from the main part of the museum so people don’t get overly handsy around the original art, the touch art piece is a 20th-century reproduction of Antonio Canova’s Hope Venus (1820) depicting a mostly naked woman turning away from the viewer, attempting to cover up. Her body language suggests she does not want to be looked at or touched, yet the museumgoer is invited to do both…

George Washington University under federal investigation for possible disability discrimination

January 23, 2018 | Source: GW Hatchet

George Washington University has been under federal investigation for alleged disability discrimination for the last several months. The Department of Education launched an inquiry April 27 after a complaint was filed accusing the University of disability discrimination based on a lack of accessibility. The investigation became public last week after the education department began releasing information about race, age and disability discrimination probes. The department previously publicly identified universities facing inquiries for sex-based discrimination only upon request…

Compliance: Credit Union National Association’s ADA website accessibility resources

January 22, 2018 | Source: CUNA

As CUNA Chief Compliance Office Jared Ihrig mentioned in last week’s webinar on Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) website accessibility, CUNA has developed a number of compliance resources designed to help credit unions ward off potential legal threats. As credit unions are facing increasing threats of litigation over ADA uncertainty, CUNA has made it a top advocacy priority. CUNA’s FAQ document explains the current status of potential rulemaking, and advises credit unions on standards they should follow in the absence of federal regulations…

Anykey Affiliate Interview: DeafGamersTV

January 22, 2018 | Source: Esports Edition

I was 2 or 3 years old when I first start playing video games. My first game was Super Mario Bros on NES, and I’ve been enjoying video games ever since. Growing up deaf in the family is kind of hard, so gaming helped keep me busy and active. Gaming helped me feel content, and could drown out anything that would bother me. It still does today. Back then there wasn’t much voice acting in games, so subtitles wouldn’t be necessary. Nowadays, almost everything is audio-based for dialogues, sound effects, etc., and some developers must not think it is necessary to have subtitles for those…

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Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities helps website developers

January 22, 2018 | Source: The Herald Journal

Cyndi Rowland, an employee with Utah State University’s Center for Persons with Disabilities, was at a conference in the mid-1990s when she realized that some people had a harder time viewing the internet than she did. A blind man talked to her after a presentation and asked Rowland if he could get to a particular website. “I said, ‘Oh, certainly, you can,’ and I just didn’t really quite understand … the question that he was asking,” Rowland said. “I just hung onto that for a long time.”…

Minneapolis Parks Thinking About Inclusion for People With Invisible Disabilities

January 23, 2018 | Source: Next City

Loud, crowded and often held in the hot days of summer—outdoor concert and movies in the park and summer festivals can be intense experiences for anyone. For someone with autism or another sensory processing disorder, the experience can be overwhelming, which can lead to increased trouble with communication, shutdowns and other problems. Because of this, some people with autism and families of children with autism choose to just skip such public events rather than risking the issue…

Understanding the Accessibility of Smartphone Photography for People with Motor Impairments

January 23, 2018 | Source: Microsoft (PDF)

We present the results of an exploration to understand the accessibility of smartphone photography for people with motor impairments. We surveyed forty-six people and interviewed twelve people about capturing, editing, and sharing photographs on smartphones. We found that people with motor impairments encounter many challenges with smartphone photography, resulting in users capturing fewer photographs than they would like. Participants described various strategies they used to overcome challenges in order to capture a quality photograph…

What’s the Deal with the Wrigley Field Wheelchair Lawsuit?

January 23, 2018 | Source: Chicagomag.com

In the 1970s, a buck and some change could get you a same-day ticket to Wrigley Field’s “cheap seats” in the bleachers where you baked in the hot sun. That was part of the fun: attracting fans—rich and poor—to be part of the Bleacher Bum antics, made famous by a hit local play that catapulted its actors to Hollywood. Those days and prices are long gone, but the lure of Wrigley Field—especially the experience of being a modern-day Bleacher Bum—is at the heart of a federal lawsuit filed last month on behalf of David F. Cerda, a 20-year-old Chicagoan who has been going to Cubs games for a decade…

DOJ punts on rulemaking, likely boosting ADA lawsuits and forcing judges to regulate

January 23, 2018 | Source: Legal News Line

The Department of Justice has withdrawn proposed rules for accessible websites of public accommodations and state and local governments, in addition to non-fixed equipment and furnishings used in public places. The decision could have a ripple-effect throughout the legal system as businesses face an onslaught from class action lawyers suing on behalf of blind individuals who claim corporate websites aren’t accessible to them. Minh Vu, a partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Washington, D.C., pointed out that absent new regulations, it may be up to the courts to sort out this issue…

A 14-Year-Old Made An App To Help Alzheimer’s Patients Recognize Their Loved Ones

January 24, 2018 | Source: Fast Company

When Emma Yang was 7 or 8 years old, her grandmother became increasingly forgetful. Over the next few years, those memory problems, caused by early Alzheimer’s disease, worsened. Yang, who learned to code at an early age, decided to create an app to help. “I have personal experience with how the disease can affect not only the patient, but also family and friends. When I was about 11 or 12, I got really interested in using technology for social good to help other people around the world,” says Yang, who is now 14…

Crepes On Cole Temporarily Closes To Improve Accessibility

January 24, 2018 | Source: Hoodline

Crepes on Cole has closed temporarily to renovate after the restaurant was sued for violating Title 3 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last spring, restaurant owner Hail Jwainat was sued by Francisca Moralez in California Northern District Court on the grounds she’d been denied her right of access under the ADA. The suit was settled before trial in May 2017. Among other changes, Crepes on Cole is lowering the height of its front counter, moving a rack for used dishes to ensure rest room access and will reconfigure the station where utensils and coffee items are kept…

Blind Law Students Win ADA Suit

January 24, 2018 | Source: Cohen Milstein

Blind law students enrolled in a bar exam class offered by BarBri, Inc – host of the country’s largest bar prep course — settled their claims this week alleging the company denied them fair and equal access to critical components of BarBri’s test prep offerings, including its mobile application, website and course materials. Despite multiple attempts by the students to alert management to these concerns, the lawsuit alleged the company’s actions not only prevented blind students from fully enjoying the resources to which they were contractually entitled, but also undermined their ability to effectively prepare for the bar exam…

Roadblocks to Accessibility

January 25, 2018 | Source: The Scholarly Kitchen – Society for Scholarly Publishing

There’s been a lot of discussion so far this year about access. Some are concerned with how to forge new methods of authentication and others see piracy as a symptom of today’s complicated access pathways in scholarly discovery. Others have pointed out that ensuring inclusiveness means ensuring access to scholarly resources by readers with disabilities. Several voices have come together in the special January 2018 issue of Learned Publishing reminding us of the accessibility gaps in professional and educational publishing…

Jack Fact — Accessibility of Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) states that 15 per cent of Ontario’s population have some form of disability. This includes more than 40 per cent of people over age 65. In Ontario approximately 1.85 million people have a disability – that’s one in seven people.

International News

Government Launches 100 Websites with Improved Accessibility For People With Disabilities

January 19, 2018 | Source: India.com- India & United News- India

The Centre on Friday launched 100 accessible websites of various state governments and union territories for persons with Persons with Disabilities. In an event in the national capital, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thawarchand Gahlot said Divyangjans are an integral part of our society and we have to play an active role for their welfare. Accessible Websites are those websites into which Persons with Disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web…

How accessible are places in Worcester for disabled people? New guide set to name and shame

January 19, 2018 | Source: Worcester News- UK

AN accessibility guide to shops, pubs, restaurants cinemas, theatres and public buildings is to be produced for Worcester by disability organisation DisabledGo. Each listed venue will be visited in person by a DisabledGo surveyor, who will collect up to 1,000 pieces of information and will take measurements and photographs. DisabledGo has already produced similar guides to over 125,000 towns and cities across the UK and the Republic of Ireland…

Meet The First Maltese Man To Get A Driving License For A Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle

January 19, 2018 | Source: Lovin Malta- Malta

For most Maltese people, driving feels as basic as breathing. Unfortunately, the current infrastructure does not help everyone move equally independently. Clifford Portelli has never been one to let that get in his way. He is the first person in Malta to obtain a licence to drive a vehicle from a wheelchair, and this is his story. Clifford is tetraplegic after a spinal injury. Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is paralysis that results in the partial or total loss of use of all four limbs and torso…

Accessible India Campaign: No good response from States to make websites accessible to differently-abled

January 20, 2018 | Source: Economic Times- India

Two years after the launch of Accessible India Campaign for universal accessibility, most states have not shown good response to the programme to make government websites accessible to the differently abled. State governments, including in BJP-ruled states, have been slow in partnering with the Centre to make websites universally accessible to the differently abled. This has prompted the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) to initiate a project with ERNET under Digital India programme to make all 9,000 government websites accessible..

Three Years of Excuses Later, BTS Skytrain Still Not Accessible

January 20, 2018 | Source: Khaosod English- Thailand

The BTS Skytrain remains inaccessible to commuters with disabilities three years after the courts ordered City Hall to install elevators, and a class-action suit remains in administrative limbo one year after it was filed. As of Saturday, the anniversary of both the landmark 2015 court ruling and historic 2017 lawsuit, some stations still lack functioning lifts. Most with elevators connecting to ground level are only available on one side of the street. “Along BTS lines, new malls pop up on a daily basis,” said Manit Intharapim, the wheelchair user who for years has fought for access to the popular rail service…

Global accessibility advocate brings efforts home

January 20, 2018 | Source: Fernie Free Press- Palestine

Louisa Cotton is bringing her work home with her. The Fernie resident and occupational therapist is also a Non Government Organization (NGO) worker who helps establish accessibility programs in developing nations across the globe. “I develop a country’s response to rehabilitation needs,” she said, explaining that she works in consultation with families and governments in the country to bring education, healthcare and basic necessities to those living with disabilities…

Swarga Calendar: A tribute to differently abled athletes

January 20, 2018 Inside Sport- India

Swarga Foundation has presented Adaptive Sports as the theme for the third edition of it’s 2018 “I’m Special” Calendar. The calendar showcases 12 differently-abled, proficient sportspersons from across the country who have won accolades at the national and international level. The Swarga calendar, ever since its launch in 2016, has been showcasing differently-abled achievers from all walks of life. The calendar is aimed at portraying these brave hearts’ achievements and tell the society that physical limitations do not limit or define the ability of an individual…

5 ways to make your workplace disability friendly

January 21, 2018 | Source: Business Matters- UK

Is your office disabled friendly? If you haven’t already considered how you can make your workplace more disability friendly, you’re in luck! Today, mobility scooter access alone is more important than ever, and as well as installing ramps in your office to improve movability, there are numerous ways you can help build disability awareness and friendliness in the work environment. Find out exactly how you can make your workplace more disability friendly below…

Is the UK doing enough to make public transport more accessible?

January 21, 2018 | Source: Business Matters- UK

Accessibility for the disabled has been a hot topic in the UK for years, and it still is to this day. With conversation currently circling around whether or not the UK is truly as accessible as it claims to be, transport experts all over the country are now being faced with the mounting pressure to improve services and make them more accessible to everyone. While there are wheelchair access vehicles for sale commercially, public transport is still an important part of travel, especially through the big cities, so is the UK truly doing enough to make public transport more accessible?…

Improved Accessibility Needed in Football Stadiums

January 21, 2018 | Source: Iceland Review- Iceland

An assessment of Icelandic football stadiums has revealed that many changes need to be made in order to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, Vísir reports. The project, “Everyone at the Stadium,” stemmed out of university students Alexander Harðarson and Ólafur Davíðsson’s Bachelor’s thesis at the University of Iceland and involved the pair visiting each of the highest division men and women’s football fields and reviewing them against a checklist of factors…

Vicky Mochama: To advocate successfully, we must advocate specifically

January 21, 2018 | Source: MetroNews- Canada

Women everywhere are facing incredible, though not insurmountable, challenges. It was apparent at the Women’s March this year and last year. And in how the #MeToo movement has spotlighted a pervasive culture of harassment and sexual abuse. As federal policy is being crafted right now around accessibility, there is one group I’d like to highlight. Women with disabilities have long struggled against a culture that sees them as less human. When it comes to sexual assault, women with disabilities face a substantial and often under-discussed risk…

Accessible fire safety tips for property managers

January 23, 2018 | Source: REMI Network- Canada

Buildings are unprepared for increasing disability rates in Canada, raising concerns among accessibility advocates who see the built environment as a laggard when it comes to fire safety. The rate of disability changes dramatically as people age, and this year there are more Canadians 65 and older than under the age of 14. By 2030, it’s expected that this age bracket will make up almost 30 per cent of the county’s population. The number of people with disabilities is set to skyrocket. Disabilities also transcend age and many people don’t report having one…

An accessibility agenda

January 25, 2018 | Source: The Indian Express- India

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan) has an initiative that deserves greater publicity. This is known as the “Accessible India Campaign” (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), launched in December 2015. I am not getting into broader, and legitimate, issues of how we define and measure disability. The 2011 census gives a disability number of 26.8 million — 2.21 per cent of the population. By any global yardstick, provided we capture it right, the disabled population cannot be significantly lower than 15 per cent. But for present purposes, let us ignore that…

Disabled Parking Could Be Extended and It’s About Basic Human Dignity

January 24, 2018 | Source: Rightsinfo- UK

Thousands of people in the UK with ’non-physical conditions’ including dementia and autism could soon qualify for a disabled parking badge under new government proposals. The extension of the Blue Badge scheme is supposed to help people with ’hidden disabilities’ access employment, beat social exclusion and isolation. Disabled parking is a matter of basic dignity and human rights. But how so? The UK ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2009…

Why doing the accessibility audit requires interest on part of state governments

January 26, 2018 | Source: Financial Express- India

The department of empowerment of persons with disabilities (divyangjan) has an initiative that deserves greater publicity. This is known as the “Accessible India Campaign” (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), launched in December 2015. I am not getting into broader, and legitimate issues, of how we define and measure disability. Census of 2011 gives a disability number of 26.8 million, 2.21% of the population. By any global yardstick, provided we capture it right, disabled population cannot be significantly lower than 15%. But for present purposes, let us ignore that…

PTC submits recommendations on making public transport more accessible for disabled

January 26, 2018 | Source: Gov.sg- Singapore

At bus stops, bus drivers should pull close to the kerb for the blind to alight safely, and they should also be familiar with landmark names in English to help the deaf. These are just some of 21 recommendations the Public Transport Council (PTC) released in its second advisory report on Thursday (Jan 25). The PTC had engaged more than 11,000 commuters of diverse profiles through multiple channels like focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to produce the report. Close to 100 commuters surveyed had different kinds of special needs, including physical impairments and conditions like autism…

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Digital Accessibility Digest

One of our three industry blogs, Microassist’s Digital Accessibility Digest is the “umbrella” for much of our accessibility content. It features commentary, guidance, curated news, and event information.Accessibility in the News is a regular feature of the Digital Accessibility Digest.

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