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Articles

This page has short summaries of every article posted on Lainey Feingold's website with links to the full articles. Visit the Writings Page to read Lainey's articles that were first posted in other publications. Visit the Topics Page for all 300 plus articles on this website organized into 38 topics including web accessibility settlements and Talking ATM press releases.

Early Win for Deaf Plaintiff in VR Captioning Lawsuit

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In 2020, lawyers for Dylan Panarra, a deaf man, filed a cutting edge lawsuit against the HTC corporation, one of the biggest electronics companies in the world. The lawsuit stated that HTC violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) because there is no captioning on the company’s Virtual Reality (“VR”) content. The first court ruling in the case came on April 15, 2022. Read more… Early Win for Deaf Plaintiff in VR Captioning Lawsuit

Legal Update: Accessibility Overlay Edition

Posted on Updated on April 20, 2022
This post originally shared four developments in the legal space about web accessibility overlays. Three are very troubling. One gives hope for stemming the tide of quick-fix “not-solutions” that can actually make websites less usable by people with disabilities. Updates add new content to the original four developments. New to the overlay issue? I first… Read more… Legal Update: Accessibility Overlay Edition

Digital Accessibility Laws Around the Globe

Posted on Updated on March 19, 2022
[Most recent updates to Australia and Luxembourg section in May 2021 [Previous updates [to Israel section] in February, 2021. [to France section] also in February, 2021. –Originally posted on May 9, 2013 (Global Accessibility Awareness Day).] This list of digital accessibility laws and policies around the globe is intended to serve as a resource only. It is not legal advice and it is not exhaustive. Read more… Digital Accessibility Laws Around the Globe

Kiosk Accessibility: The Law is Paying Attention

Posted on Updated on December 31, 2021
[Latest Update October 10, 2021 Digital accessibility is not just about websites, and the law is taking notice. This post, updated with new developments, highlights cases about kiosk accessibility. I use the term “kiosk” broadly to include tablets and any piece of technology offering services, products, and information. Who will use that technology? People — and that means disabled people. Read more… Kiosk Accessibility: The Law is Paying Attention

Narrow Winn-Dixie Court Opinion Limits Certain Types of Web Accessibility Lawsuits in three U.S. States

Posted on Updated on March 15, 2022
In 2017 the first federal court web accessibility trial in the United States was held in a Miami Florida courtroom. When the trial was over, the judge ruled that the Winn-Dixie grocery chain violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by maintaining an inaccessible website. Winn-Dixie appealed the ruling. More than three years later, on April… Read more… Narrow Winn-Dixie Court Opinion Limits Certain Types of Web Accessibility Lawsuits in three U.S. States

Another Big Win in the Domino’s Pizza Accessibility Saga

Posted on Updated on February 28, 2022
When the United States Supreme Court decided not to take up the Domino’s web accessibility case in October 2019, the case went back to the US federal district court in California. This week (twenty months later) the district court judge issued an important ruling in the case. It was a big win for web accessibility.… Read more… Another Big Win in the Domino’s Pizza Accessibility Saga

Podcasts Need Transcripts: December 2021 lawsuit against SiriusXM

Posted on Updated on February 27, 2022
On December 9, 2021, the National Association of the Deaf (“NAD”) and Disability Rights Advocates (“DRA”) filed a lawsuit against SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora. The companies do not provide transcripts or captions for podcasts. (Sirius purchased Stitcher in 2020 for 325 million dollars. In 2019 it acquired Pandora in a $3.5 billion all-stock transaction.) The… Read more… Podcasts Need Transcripts: December 2021 lawsuit against SiriusXM

Legal Update: U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Offices, Championing Digital Access

Posted on Updated on February 26, 2022
During the previous United States presidential administration some very committed disability rights lawyers hunkered down in the Department of Justice (DOJ). They did what they could to protect the Americans with Disabilities Act during that challenging time. But there were very few proactive developments in the digital accessibility space. Today things are different! Recent developments show that the DOJ is once again a champion of disability rights generally and digital accessibility specifically, Read more… Legal Update: U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorneys Offices, Championing Digital Access