[Nfb-science] Fwd: Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind Texas Employees

[David Andrews]

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> >>> "Pare, John" <JPare at NFB.ORG> 2/5/2007 8:48 AM >>>
>Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind Texas Employees
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>National Federation of the Blind Files Suit for Equal Access
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>Austin, Texas (February 5, 2007): 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.
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>The newly acquired software replaced another 
>software package that had, in large part, been accessible to blind users.
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>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."
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>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."
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>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.
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>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.
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>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."
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>The plaintiffs are represented by the Baltimore, 
>Maryland firm of Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP 
>and Scanlan, Buckle & Young of Austin, Texas.
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>John G. Paré Jr.
>Director of Public Relations
>NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
>1800 Johnson Street
>Baltimore, Maryland  21230
>Telephone:  (410) 659-9314, ext. 2371
>Cell phone:  (410) 913-3912
>Fax:  (410) 685-5653
>Email:  jpare at nfb.org
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David Andrews and white cane Harry.