[Jobs] > Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind Texas Employees

[Ginger R]

> PR Newswire
> Monday, February 05, 2007
>
> Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind Texas Employees
>
> By National Federation of the Blind
>
> National Federation of the Blind Files Suit for Equal Access
>
> AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National
> Federation of the Blind and three blind Texas employees filed suit today
> to
> enforce a provision of Texas law requiring all information technology
> purchased by the state to be accessible to blind employees. The suit was
> brought because the blind cannot use software manufactured by Oracle
> Systems and used by state employees.
> The newly acquired software replaced another software package that had,
> in large part, been accessible to blind users.
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind,
> said: "Access to information technology is critical to success on the job
> for everyone in the twenty-first century, and this is no less true for the
> blind than it is for the sighted. The National Federation of the Blind is
> committed to improving access to all information technologies, and we will
> take all steps necessary to do so, including litigation."
> Tommy Craig, President of the National Federation of the Blind of
> Texas, said: "The state legislature of Texas recognized the need for equal
> access for the blind by passing a law requiring it, and it is
> unconscionable that a state agency is violating that law. The National
> Federation of the Blind of Texas will not rest until all of the employees
> of the state of Texas have equal access to all the information they need
> to
> function effectively."
> The suit, which names as defendants the directors of the Health and
> Human Services Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission (the agencies
> for which the blind employees work) and the state's acting chief
> technology
> officer, arises from the state's continuing renewal of contracts to
> purchase Oracle's human resources software and other products, despite the
> fact that the software cannot be used by blind Texas employees. The
> plaintiffs have asked a Texas court to require the software to be made
> accessible to the blind and to require that the state discontinue its
> purchases of inaccessible software.
> Blind people access computer software by means of screen access
> programs, which convert what is on the screen into synthesized speech or
> allow it to be displayed in Braille. The Oracle software, which is used by
> state employees for various human resources tasks, does not provide equal
> access to blind persons using screen access technology. For example, blind
> employees cannot access their pay and leave records, and those in
> supervisory positions cannot create or review performance evaluations.
> Edwin Kunz, one of the blind plaintiffs who directs a rehabilitation
> center for the blind within the Health and Human Services Commission's
> Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services, said: "I am unable to
> review and enter information such as my hours worked and leave taken
> unless
> a sighted person helps me to do so. Even worse, I can't access critical
> information about the employees that I supervise without the assistance of
> a sighted person. Because I must have sighted assistance for all of these
> personnel functions, both my privacy and the privacy of my employees are
> routinely violated. I've complained about the problems with the software,
> but nothing has been done to fix them. I hope this lawsuit will spur
> Oracle
> to
> move quickly to correct this problem; otherwise the state will have to
> purchase human resources software from someone else."
> The plaintiffs are represented by the Baltimore, Maryland firm of
> Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP and Scanlan, Buckle & Young of Austin, Texas.
> About the National Federation of the Blind
> With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is
> the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people
> in
> the United States. The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy,
> education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
> self-confidence. It is the leading force in the blindness field today and
> the voice of the nation's blind. In January 2004 the NFB opened the
> National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research
> and
> training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.
>
> SOURCE National Federation of the Blind
>