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Houston Transit Agency Digital Access Settlement Agreement

This is the settlement agreement between Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County and blind transit riders about the accessibility of the agency’s website and mobile application. The authority is the regional transit operator in Houston Texas. This agreement was negotiated in Structured Negotiation; no lawsuit was filed or needed. The blind riders were represented by Christopher McGreal of Disability Rights Texas with the assistance of the Law Office of Lainey Feingold. The agency agreed to bring its digital properties into compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, Level AA. In doing so Houston METRO, as the Authority is known, assumes a national leadership position on providing all riders with digital access. Read more… Houston Transit Agency Digital Access Settlement Agreement

More Delay for Federal Pedestrian Signal Regs

In 1999 a little known federal agency called the United States Access Board had a good idea. Nine years after passages of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Board issued an official notice of its “intent to establish a Public Rights-of-Way Access Advisory Committee.” The committee’s job was to make recommendations for accessibility guidelines for public rights-of-way covered by the ADA. Read more… More Delay for Federal Pedestrian Signal Regs

Lainey Feingold to receive AFB Access Award

Lainey and co-counsel Lainey and co-counsel Linda Dardarian are being honored on April 4 at the 2008 National Conference of the the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). Lainey and Linda will receive one of AFB’s three 2008 Access Awards for their pioneering work in resolving complex accessible technology claims without litigation. Technology developers Serotek and Code Factory will also receive Access Awards, and Anita Aaron, Executive Director of the San Francisco LightHouse will receive the organization’s Gallagher Award. Read more… Lainey Feingold to receive AFB Access Award

GAAD 2014: People are Different and We All Use Technology. Why Isn’t More of it Accessible?

May 15 2014 is the third annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day, or GAAD. The day was conceived by Los Angeles web developer Joe Devon and accessibility virtuoso Jennison Asuncion. Virtual and live events are being held around the globe to bring attention to a simple idea: People are different, and we use digital devices and consume digital content in different ways. Read more… GAAD 2014: People are Different and We All Use Technology. Why Isn’t More of it Accessible?

Can’t Someone Read that to You? Dissolving Stereotypes of Blindness

On June 25, 2013, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), an agency of the United Nations, reached agreement on an historic document designed to provide access to reading materials for people who are blind or have other print disabilities. The draft WIPO treaty changes copyright law to reflect that blind people need formats other than standard print in order to read. These alternative formats, or accessible formats, include Braille, audio, Large Print, accessible web content and other accessible electronic documents. The lack of accessible, available formats, and not blindness, is why blind people cannot read huge swaths of information available in standard print format. The need for accessible information has been at the core of many of the settlement agreements reached as a result of Structured Negotiations. Many of those negotiations began with stereotypes about blind people and their right, desire, and need to read independently. Read more… Can’t Someone Read that to You? Dissolving Stereotypes of Blindness

Talking Prescription Labels: Spring 2016 Update

Without accessible prescription labels, blind people are forced to guess about the medication in their prescription containers. Would a pharmacy give medication to sighted consumers without a label? Of course not. A growing number of pharmacy chains and health care organizations in the United States now offer talking prescription labels and other forms of accessible prescription information for customers who cannot read standard print. This post will give you the details. Read more… Talking Prescription Labels: Spring 2016 Update

Web Accessibility Report includes Lainey Feingold’s Law Office Web Site

The Law Office of Lainey Feingold is pleased to announce that this web site has been included in the web accessibility implementation report issued as part of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 implementation process. The process is an international, multi-year effort to revise the accessibility standards for web sites. Details of the current status of the implementation process are at the end of this post. Read more… Web Accessibility Report includes Lainey Feingold’s Law Office Web Site

Credit Reports Now Accessible

Effective December 17, 2008, people who are blind or visually impaired can obtain their free annual credit reports in accessible formats. As a result of an agreement signed earlier this year by the American Council of the Blind, the California Council of the Blind, and others, credit reports are now available in an accessible format… Read more… Credit Reports Now Accessible