[nfbwatlk] Fw: Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind TexasEmployees

[Bob Sellers]

Is it considered inaccessable if screen readers can be modified, such as the
writing of scripts or maps, in which then the screen readers could read the
software? Or is the Oracle software written in such a way that the screen
readers cannot tie into it?

bob
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "NFB of Washington Talk" <nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 5:50 PM
Subject: [nfbwatlk] Fw: Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind
TexasEmployees


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pare, John" <JPare at NFB.ORG>
To: "Pare, John" <JPare at NFB.ORG>
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 6:46 AM
Subject: Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind Texas Employees


Oracle Software Cannot Be Used By Blind Texas Employees

National Federation of the Blind Files Suit for Equal Access




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.



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.



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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