[nfbwatlk] Fw: Fw: BlindNews: Court rules Target must make website accessible to the blind

[Mike Freeman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chasity Jackson" <chasity0713 at charter.net>
To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 8:21 PM
Subject: [Nfbmo] Fw: BlindNews: Court rules Target must make 
websiteaccessible to theblind


> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "BlindNews Mailing List" <BlindNews at GeoffAndWen.com>
> To: <BlindNews at blindprogramming.com>
> Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 7:41 PM
> Subject: BlindNews: Court rules Target must make website accessible to
> theblind
>
>
>> KARE11 TV, Minnesota USA
>> Thursday, September 07, 2006
>>
>> Court rules Target must make website accessible to the blind
>>
>> A federal district court judge ruled Wednesday that a retailer may be 
>> sued
>> if its website is inaccessible to the blind. The ruling was issued in a
>> case brought by the National Federation of the Blind against Target Corp.
>>
>> The suit charges that Target's website ( http://www.target.com ) is
>> inaccessible to the blind, and therefore violates the Americans with
>> Disabilities Act (ADA), the California Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the
>> California Disabled Persons Act. Target asked the court to dismiss the
>> action by arguing that no law requires Target to make its website
>> accessible. The Court denied Target's motion to dismiss and held that the
>> federal and state civil rights laws do apply to a website such as
>> target.com.
>>
>> The suit, NFB v. Target, was filed as a class action on behalf of all
>> blind Americans who are being denied access to target.com. The named
>> plaintiffs are the NFB, the NFB of California, and a blind college
>> student, Bruce "BJ" Sexton.
>>
>> The plaintiffs are represented by Disability Rights Advocates, a
>> Berkeley-based non-profit law firm that specializes in high-impact cases
>> on behalf of people with disabilities;
>>
>> The court held: "the 'ordinary meaning' of the ADA's prohibition against
>> discrimination in the enjoyment of goods, services, facilities or
>> privileges, is that whatever goods or services the place provides, it
>> cannot discriminate on the basis of disability in providing enjoyment of
>> those goods and services." The court thus rejected Target's argument that
>> only its physical store locations were covered by the civil rights laws,
>> ruling instead that all services provided by Target, including its Web
>> site, must be accessible to persons with disabilities.
>>
>> "This ruling is a great victory for blind people throughout the country,"
>> said NFB President Dr. Marc Maurer. "We are pleased that the court
>> recognized that the blind are entitled to equal access to retail
>> websites."
>>
>> Dr. Maurer explained that blind persons access websites by using 
>> keyboards
>> in conjunction with screen-reading software, which vocalizes visual
>> information on a computer screen.
>>
>> Target's website contains significant access barriers that prevent blind
>> customers from browsing among and purchasing products online, as well as
>> from finding important corporate information such as employment
>> opportunities, investor news, and company policies.
>>
>> The plaintiffs charge that target.com fails to meet the minimum standard
>> of web accessibility. It lacks compliant alt-text, an invisible code
>> embedded beneath graphic images that allows screen readers to detect and
>> vocalize a description of the image to a blind computer user. It also
>> contains inaccessible image maps and other graphical features, preventing
>> blind users from navigating and making use of all of the functions of the
>> website. And because the website requires the use of a mouse to complete 
>> a
>> transaction, blind Target customers are unable to make purchases on
>> target.com independently.
>>
>> Explaining the ramification of the ruling, Mazen M. Basrawi, Equal 
>> Justice
>> Works Fellow at Disability Rights Advocates, noted that: "the court
>> clarified that the law requires that any place of public accommodation is
>> required to ensure that it does not discriminate when it uses the 
>> internet
>> as a means to enhance the services it offers at a physical location."
>>
>> "I hope that I can soon shop online at Target.com just like anyone else,"
>> said UC Berkeley student BJ Sexton, who is a named plaintiff in the
>> lawsuit. "I believe that millions of blind people like me can use the
>> Internet just as easily as do the sighted, if websites are accessible."
>>
>>
>> http://www.kare11.com/money/business_article.aspx?storyid=134062
>>
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>>
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