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Tag Archives: ADA

Why FCC Gives E-Readers Another Year to Exclude “Text To Speech” And Ignore The Disabled.

07 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Americans With Disabilities, FCC, Government

≈ Comments Off on Why FCC Gives E-Readers Another Year to Exclude “Text To Speech” And Ignore The Disabled.

Tags

ADA, Amazon, E-Readers, FCC, Kindle, Text To Speech

No Paperwhite Read-Aloud For You! FCC Again Lets Amazon And Friends Diss People With Disabilities, by David H. Rothman, posted by Sabrina I. Pacifici, BeSpacific Blog

http://www.llrx.com/features/fccrulingereaders.htm

Text to speech would cost a pittance to add to current E Ink readers like Amazon’s Paperwhite and the $200 Voyage. In fact, some earlier Kindles even came with read-aloud. No longer, though. With all the laws on the books, can’t Washington stop this dissing of people with disabilities?

In one form or another, the Kindle is so common that it’s become ‘The Official E-reader of the National PTA.’

Yet despite TTS’s potential benefits to millions of Americans, the Federal Communications Commission has just granted the e-reader industry another year’s exemption from the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.

The waiver announced January 28 wouldn’t have necessarily guaranteed TTS. But long term, it still would have helped people ranging from vision-impaired 90-year-olds to school children with dyslexia. . . .

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Is Claustophobia A Viable ADA Lawsuit?

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Americans With Disabilities, Disabilities, Employment Law, Wrongful Termination

≈ Comments Off on Is Claustophobia A Viable ADA Lawsuit?

Tags

ADA, Claustrophobia, Debra Cassens Weiss, Employment Law, Motion to Dismiss, U.S. District Judge Berle Schiller, Undisputed Legal Inc., Wrongful Termination

Lawyer’s Claustrophobia ADA Suit Survives Motion To Dismiss, by Debra Cassens Weiss, Undisputed Legal Inc.

https://undisputedlegal.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/lawyers-claustrophobia-ada-suit-survives-motion-to-dismiss/

A Philadelphia lawyer who claimed her law firm failed to accommodate her claustrophobia may proceed with her lawsuit, a federal judge has ruled. E refused to dismiss the disability suit against the law firm Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, the Legal Intelligencer (sub. req.) reports. The plaintiff, former law firm associate Erica Serine, had claimed the law firm refused to accommodate her disability and then fired her.

According to Schiller’s Feb. 25 opinion (PDF), Serine had requested a transfer in 2012 from a Marshall Dennehey office in Moosic, Pennsylvania, to an office in Philadelphia or Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to be close to family in the area. The firm allowed a transfer to the Philadelphia office.

But Serine says she experienced anxiety and other symptoms of claustrophobia beginning with her elevator ride to the 24th floor of the Philadelphia office on Oct. 1, 2012. She ‘obsessively researched evacuation plans’ and had trouble sleeping and eating, the opinion said. She was extremely nervous at work, particularly when in the elevator or when away from a window.

The law firm allowed Serine to work from home while she sought treatment with a psychologist, but turned down her request to work at the Cherry Hill office or Pennsylvania offices in King of Prussia or Doylestown.

In December 2012, Serine was advised she could work in Philadelphia or Moosic, but she could not continue to work from home. She was fired the next month. . . .

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ADA Litigation Considers Websites and Apps Access for the Disabled.

24 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Americans With Disabilities, Consumer Law

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ADA, Apps, Disabled, Jill Rosenberg, Joe Libert, Orric Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Public Accommodation, Target, Tim Long, Title III, Websites

The Next Frontier in ADA Litigation: Website and App Access for the Disabled, by Joe Libert, Tim Long, and Jill Rosenberg, Orric, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 

http://tinyurl.com/nj2n7n5

For the last several years, consumers have increasingly turned to online shopping as an alternative to traditional ‘brick and mortar’ stores. Some reports showed that ‘Cyber Monday’ sales figures beat out those for ‘Black Friday’ this year, and many retailers are doubling down on their eCommerce efforts in response. What many retailers might not be aware of is the growing risk of litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and derivative state laws arising from websites or mobile apps that allegedly discriminate against disabled individuals.

Although there has been more than a decade of litigation on this issue, basic questions have remained muddled, including whether Title III of the ADA (which requires access to places of public accommodations to disabled individuals) applies to websites.  Recent developments in case law, new proposed regulations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) slated for March 2015, and a noteworthy recent DOJ settlement with an online grocery service, all indicate that this will be an area to watch in 2015.

Title III and Private Employer Websites

Although there is no consensus among courts, some recent cases have held that Title III applies to websites, while several earlier cases held that it did not.

Even courts that have held that a website is not a ‘public accommodation’ under Title III have recognized that an exception exists where there is a ‘nexus’ between the website and a physical place of public accommodation, such as a brick and mortar store. For example, in National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation, the plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against Target, alleging that its website was inaccessible to blind individuals.[1]  Target argued that the website was not a place of public accommodation, and that plaintiffs had not alleged denial of access to the brick and mortar stores. The court rejected this argument, noting that ‘it is clear that the purpose of the statute is broader than mere physical access—seeking to bar actions or omissions which impair a disabled person’s ‘full enjoyment’ of services or goods of a covered accommodation.’[2] . . .

 

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DOJ Warns Louisiana Supreme Court To Stop Civil Rights Abuse of Bar Applicants.

17 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by Celia C. Elwell, RP in Americans With Disabilities, Disabilities, Legal Ethics, Louisiana Supreme Court

≈ Comments Off on DOJ Warns Louisiana Supreme Court To Stop Civil Rights Abuse of Bar Applicants.

Tags

ADA, Alan Childress, Alston Walker, Dane Ciolino, Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, DOJ, Lauren Michel, Legal Profession Prof Blog, Louisiana Bar Admission, Louisiana Supreme Court, Loyola

DOJ Sends Critical Letter to Louisiana Supreme Court re its Bar Admission Process, by Alan Childress, Legal Profession Prof, Legal Profession Prof Blog

http://tinyurl.com/qhryrrf

Dane Ciolino (Loyola-New Orleans, Law) has blogged on the recent letter of warning the DOJ sent the state’s supreme court and chief disciplinary counsel about the civil and disability rights of its applicants. . . .

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