Posted on 01/08/2018 5:42:50 AM PST by simpson96
A blind Manhattan woman recently filed individual lawsuits against more than 30 businesses she says are not handicap accessible online.
Maria Mendizabal, who is legally blind, claims that the Web sites for companies such as Nike, 24 Hour Fitness, De Beers, Barney’s, Donna Karan, and Kleinfeld Bridal aren’t compatible with screen-reading software that translates the written content into either audio or Braille.
“Unless websites are designed to be read by screen-reading software, blind and visually-impaired persons are unable to fully access websites, and the information, Products, and services contained thereon,” reads the suit against Barney’s, which is filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
While Mendizabal has lodged some 34 lawsuits, another disabled Manhattan man, Victor Lopez, has filed 21 against companies such as Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Swarovski, and B&H Photo.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Suing over this? I just don’t see it:-)
Suing only deep-pocketed Corporations. Now you don’t ‘see’ THAT everyday, do ya? ;)
*SMIRK*
Did she sue the New Yawk DMV website because she wasn’t able to get a driver’s license?
Stevie Wonder could see this one coming....
This was 100% pushed by the Left, but neither HW Bush or GW Bush vetoed it, so they own it in that respect.
They (Both the Bush Presidents and the Republicans whose votes made it passable) not only didn’t want to be labeled as mean, racist, heartless, or whatever label the Left would apply, but both went out of their way to “out-liberal” the liberals, which is damaging all in its own right.
This is one of the kinds of things that I seem to see from President Trump that sets him apart, that I applaud with enthusiasm. He doesn’t seem to give a rat’s patootie if the left, right, French, or anyone else hates him if he does what is right.
Notice they only go after the big ones that will settle?
This is a criminal enterprise.
At least Nepal has put a stop to handicapped mountain climbers. Too many bodies accumulating on the peaks i suppose and hurting the tourism business.
ADA is another feral gubment program gone out of control. Sidewalks and ramps to nowhere are just one part of the insanity and waste.
“She’s blind, so why would she care about diamonds, or jewelry?”
She’s a Girl FIRST, Silly! ;)
This is serious and true.
Back in the 1980s I remember going through the Garden State Parkway in northern New Jersey and the automatic toll booths, where you have to toss a quarter in the basket, had braille below the 25 cents sign.
To make it worse, the only way you could “feel” it was to get out of the car and step up on the curb the toll gate was on.
A while back there was talk of suing the gov over money - the blind can’t read what’s on the bills. What next? suing TV stations because the blind can’t see what’s on the screen?
“She should sue Ford and Chevy too. For obvious reasons...”
...and American Airlines pilot training program.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Captain Maria Mendizaba. I am completely blind, but thru the marvels of modern technology, I will be piloting this flight from Philadelphia to Miami International today. Now, if you would, please listen to and follow the instructions of your flight attendants. I’ll see you on the other side....”
Heh, good one!
Give it a break on the "All the World's ills are due to the Bush Family" mantra.
The results of ADA Bill are atrocious, but it passed in the Senate 76-8, i.e. well over a Veto-Proof margin.
The MSM would have had a field day if Pres. GHW Bush had refused to sign. "Republicans push little old ladies in wheelchairs onto the Interstate Highways!" "Pres. Bush orders sidewalk manhole covers removed in order to catch blind people!"
Favorite ADA insanity anecdotes:
Renovating our office, we are informed the employee entrance doors need to be “frosted”. This is a solid double-door entry, with a glass insert, 6” wide by 18” tall in the upper half of the door. You know, so you can see if anyone is on the other side of the door when opening it.
Which was the problem. A person in a wheel chair wouldn’t be able to see through the glass. So it had to be frosted over so that able-bodied people couldn’t see through it either.
Similar issue with the electronic keypads outside our conference rooms. The keypads are touch screens which let you schedule the room, see when it’s booked, etc... Apparently they were all installed 12” to high on the wall. So they all (12 of them) had to be rewired and installed lower, a height which makes them impossible to use without squatting down. So now all our employees are squatting to use the conference room keypads.
The best part? We have 0 wheelchair bound employees.
I remember some years go that a man who was legally blind applied for a job as a UPS driver.
They declined him.
He sued UPS in court.
JUDGE THREW IT OUT.
Not sure that would happen today.
Most of the services of most companies who have websites are services that are also available to customers over the phone. Most of them have “800” numbers that can be located using the “411” information system. That is how everyone, blind or sited, had access to companies before, and that access did not go away in most cases, as they developed websites.
I remember Poppy Bush eagerly embracing it when he signed it. Part of his whole “compassionate conservative” meme.
This has been the LAW for a long time, and its not hard to develop web sites so they can be used by those with limited visual ability... However most companies just flaunt the law.
I have this conversation again and again with companies, and most just ignore the law.... I tell them flat out, they are setting themselves up for problems.... And I am not talking mom and pop joints either, I am talking large corporations and health care providers with MILLIONS of members and customers. Its beyond reprehensible they refuse to do the right thing... but they do... then they wind up in trouble and after the fact try to retro fit in the solution at far higher cost, than if they had just listened in the first place...
I worked in a building which was under construction when the ADA was signed. The upshot was that before we could occupy the building we had to request an expensive change order to install an elevator which would allow handicapped people to access a couple of offices on the mezzanine.
Five years working there and not a single handicapped person ever wanted to go to those offices. Only use for the elevator was for maintenance to haul mop buckets up and down.
I’m guessing she has no need whatsoever for anything on half of those websites.
A website is an apple and a street sign through a camera lens is an orange.
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