Articles
This page has short summaries of every article posted on Lainey Feingold's website with links to the full articles. Visit the Topics Page for all 300 plus articles on this website organized into 38 topics including Structured Negotiation and digital accessibility.
The articles here are in chronological order, arranged by the date of publication or the date of the most recent Update when an article has been updated. Most recent articles and updated articles appear first on this list.
When an Article is updated there is a link to the Updates right below the the summary of the page.
This settlement agreement is the second First Union agreement negotiated by Lainey and Linda Dardarian using Structured Negotiations on behalf of representatives of the blind community in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Tom Earle, formerly with the Disabilities Law Project in Philadelphia, now known as the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, also represented the Claimants. In the initial First Union agreement, the bank began its Talking ATM roll-out. In this agreement, First Union, subsequently purchased by Wachovia, expanded its Talking ATM commitment, agreed to make its website accessible, and adopted a comprehensive alternative format policy. As of early 2008, Wachovia has thousands of Talking ATMs throughout the United States.
Read more… First Union Final ATM, Web and Alternative Format Agreement
This settlement agreement was negotiated by Lainey and Linda Dardarian using Structured Negotiations on behalf of representatives of the blind community in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Tom Earle, formerly with the Disabilities Law Project in Philadelphia, now known as the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, also represented the Claimants. This was the first of two agreements that First Union, subsequently purchased by Wachovia, negotiated with the blind community. In this agreement, the bank agreed to install the first Talking ATMs in North Carolina, Maryland, and New Jersey. As of early 2008, Wachovia has thousands of Talking ATMs.
Read more… First Union Preliminary Talking ATM Agreement
The settlement agreement posted here is a result of Structured Negotiations between the California Council of the Blind, Cinemark patrons with visual impairments, and Cinemark, a leading domestic and international motion picture exhibitor. Linda Dardarian, of the Oakland, California civil rights firm Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen and Dardarian, and the Law Office of Lainey Feingold worked with the blind community on this initiative.
Audio Description provides vocal description of key visual aspects of a movie, such as descriptions of scenery, facial expressions, costumes, action settings, and scene changes, described audibly during natural pauses in dialogue or critical sound elements. Narration of these elements is then woven into the soundtrack of the program or film, so that the finished version is a mix of program audio and descriptive narration. The description, which is provided by movie studios, is available only to members of the audience who choose to receive it via personal headsets and a receiver provided at the theater.
Read more… Cinemark Audio Description Settlement Agreement
Bank of America has long been a leader in its commitment to accessible digital content. The agreement posted here concerns accessibility enhancements to the bank’s travel rewards redemption site. This agreement was reached through Structured Negotiations, a collaborative dispute resolution process. Structured Negotiations has been used for twenty years to successfully resolve accessibility claims without lawsuits.
Read more… Bank of America Credit Card Rewards Website Agreement
The Fleet Final Talking ATM agreement was negotiated by Lainey Feingold and co-counsel Stan Eichner of the Disability Law Center in Boston, Massachusetts, using Structured Negotiations on behalf of the Bay State Council of the Blind and other Massachusetts advocates. Fleet, which was subsequently purchased by Bank of America, agreed in this document to install Talking ATMs at all of the Bank’s locations. The initial Fleet Agreement resulted in the first Talking ATMs in New England and a comprehensive alternative formats policy. It was the second agreement in the United States to require that a bank’’s website be accessible.
Read more… Fleet Bank Final Talking ATM Agreement
The Settlement Agreement below is the third agreement that Bank of America negotiated with the California Council of the Blind and individual members of the blind community using the process of Structured Negotiations. This final agreement contains the bank’s commitment that 100% of its ATM locations will have at least one Talking ATM. As of early 2008, the bank is on the road towards far exceeding this goal, with over 11,000 Talking ATMs, and multiple Talking ATMs at many locations.
Read more… Bank of America Final National Agreement
The Bank of America California and Florida Agreement was negotiated by Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian using Structured Negotiations on behalf of the California Council of the Blind (CCB) and several individual blind advocates. The Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF) also represented the Claimants. This was the first agreement in the country in which a bank committed to make its website accessible, and the first in which a bank committed to install Talking ATMs in more than one state. This was the first of three agreements involving Bank of America’s services for blind customers. The interim Bank of America national agreement and the final Bank of America national agreement are posted in the Settlement Agreement Category.
Read more… Bank of America California and Florida Agreement
The settlement agreement posted here details Bank of America’s commitment to improving the accessibility and usability of mortgage documents for customers who are blind. The agreement was reached in Structured Negotiation; no lawsuit was needed or filed. The Law Office of Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian, of the Oakland civil rights firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian and Ho represented Bank of America mortgage holder Jessie Lorenz in the negotiation. This agreement reflects Bank of America’s ongoing commitment to its disabled customers, begun more than fifteen years ago when the bank assumed a leadership role in rolling out Talking ATMs and making its online banking platform accessible. Visit the Bank of America Accessibility topic on this website for links to press releases and settlement agreements demonstrating the bank’s accessibility commitment.
Read more… Bank of America Accessible Mortgage Information Agreement
This agreement was negotiated by Lainey and Linda Dardarian using Structured Negotiations on behalf of the California Council of the Blind and individual blind advocates in California and Illinois. This was the first agreement in the United States in which a non-bank ATM owner agreed to make its ATMs accessible to blind users.
Read more… American Express Talking ATM Agreement
The 7-Eleven Point of Sale Agreement was negotiated by Lainey and Linda Dardarian using Structured Negotiations on behalf of the American Council of the Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, and the California Council of the Blind. In the Agreement, 7-Eleven agreed to install tactile point of sale devices at all its stores in the United States.
Read more… 7-Eleven Point of Sale Agreement
