hand holding pen writing in notebook

Blind Turkish Pop Star Advocates for Talking ATMs and POS devices

[quote from=”CNN News article on blind Turkish pop star Metin Senturk”]Technological innovations are also widening access to some everyday activities, such as banking. Earlier this month, Turkey’s Yapi Kredi bank launched an ATM which talks visually-impaired customers through their transactions. It also rolled out point of sale machines that act in a similar manner.[/quote]On December 17, 2010, CNN ran the story reprinted here about Turkish pop star Metin Senturk who is blind. Mr. Senturk, who holds the Guinness record as the world’s fastest blind driver, started a disability rights organization in Turkey, and mentions disability issues on his weekly national television show. Another aspect of disability advocacy in Turkey? As explained more fully in the article here, the leading bank in Turkey rolled out its first Talking ATM on December 3, 2010. Talking Point of Sale devices have also been introduced. Read more… Blind Turkish Pop Star Advocates for Talking ATMs and POS devices

Fifteen Years of Practicing Law with an Outstretched Hand

October 1, 2011 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Law Office of Lainey Feingold. I had practiced law for fifteen years when I decided to strike out on my own in 1996. That year my daughters turned 10 and 7. I was afraid that continuing on the path my legal career had taken would extract too steep a toll on the kind of parent I wanted to be. As with most new adventures, I was unsure about what having my own law firm would be like. I certainly could not have predicted that I would find a collaborative way to practice law that helped to solve disability access problems while developing lasting relationships with incredible people. [More on that below.] Or that I would be able to practice law without becoming mired in the procedural battles and adversarial posturing that is all too common in my chosen field. Read more… Fifteen Years of Practicing Law with an Outstretched Hand

Gratitude for a Poached Egg (an Accessibility and Negotiation Strategy)

Whenever I travel, I try to eat in local restaurants serving traditional foods. That’s how I found myself at 417 Union in Nashville last month eating poached eggs, grits and a biscuit. The eggs were perfect and I asked the waitress to thank the cook for me. She came back later and told me: “His day is going to go a lot better now that he knows he done good.” Her comment sums up my experience as a negotiator in the digital accessibility space. Everyone wants to know they have “done good.” Telling them so is a powerful negotiating strategy. Read more… Gratitude for a Poached Egg (an Accessibility and Negotiation Strategy)

Lawyers as Peacemakers: ABA Publishes Comprehensive Resource

The book review posted here was first published in the Book Review Thursday section of the San Francisco-based on-line publication BeyondChron. The book, written by lawyer J. Kim Wright and published by the American Bar Association, is titled Lawyers as Peacemakers: Practicing Holistic, Problem-Solving Law. The cover graphic shows a white dove of peace, olive… Read more… Lawyers as Peacemakers: ABA Publishes Comprehensive Resource

Lawyers as Changemakers: The Global Integrative Law Movement

The New York Times ran a powerful obituary on July 26, 2017 about Scharlette Holdman, an unsung woman who devoted her life to inmates on death row. The obituary described those who sought to emulate Holdman’s career by saying “Many mitigation specialists who followed in her footsteps are journalists and social workers. ‘It’s the antithesis of being a lawyer; it’s all about human feeling and connection..'” Is that true? Is human feeling and connection the “antithesis” — the opposite — of being a lawyer? Read more… Lawyers as Changemakers: The Global Integrative Law Movement

Chicago Structured Negotiation and Digital Access Events in October ’17

This post has information about Lainey Feingold’s Fall speaking events in Chicago. Lainey will be presenting at the Chicago Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design MeetUp, at a free CLE for lawyers sponsored by Equip for Equality and JPMorgan Chase, and at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law with Chicago. disability rights lawyer Andres Gallegos. She is excited to return to Chicago, and is grateful for friends and colleagues in the Windy City making this trip possible. Read more… Chicago Structured Negotiation and Digital Access Events in October ’17

The Gig Economy: Making it available to everyone

The gig economy: Flexible jobs! Extra money on the weekends! A quick ride (don’t worry about parking)! Meal delivery at your fingertips, and task rabbits to mow your lawn or build your Ikea furniture. Paralegals when you need them, no excess payroll when you don’t. “Feel at home” anywhere in the world—no hotel workers needed. Today, the term “gig economy” describes an increasing number of modern economic relationships in the United States and around the world. Where do disabled people fit in? Disability rights are implicated by new economic structures; the law is beginning to take notice. Read more… The Gig Economy: Making it available to everyone