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.
Lainey Feingold will be presenting two times at the 27th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego in late February – early March, 2012. Commonly referred to as CSUN, the abbreviation for conference sponsor California State University Northridge, the conference is the largest conference of its kind on technology and people with disabilities.
Read more… CSUN Technology and Persons with Disability Conference 2012
On March 15, 2012, federal regulations with detailed Talking ATM requirements will finally be mandatory. The Talking ATM standards come at the end of a long (and continuing) road of grass-roots and legal advocacy in the U.S. and around the globe. March 15, 2012 is more than twelve years after the first Talking ATM was installed in the United States. Tens of thousands of ATMs now talk, but still too many do not.
Read more… Finally: U.S. Talking ATM Regulations Fully in Force
Continuing its collaboration with the American Council of the Blind first announced in 2011, the American Cancer Society is making additional documents available in Braille and Large Print. The American Cancer Society is also continuing to provide a website that satisfies WCAG 2.0 Level AA Success Criteria. And, in addition to its accessible website and Braille and Large Print information, all American Cancer Society publications and brochures three pages or longer are available in Audio CD, Audio MP3 and electronic format sent as an email attachment or mailed on a disc. Brochures with fewer than 3 pages are available in electronic formats.
Read more… American Cancer Society Continues Information Accessibility Initiative
In 2011 the American Cancer Society (ACS) and the American Council of the Blind reached a comprehensive agreement regarding ACS information to members of the public with visual impairments. ACS agreed at that time that its website would satisfy WCAG 2.0 Level AA and that it would provide certain ACS information in Braille, Audio, Large Print and electronic formats. In early 2012 the parties agreed to extend the agreement and provide additional materials in Braille and Large Print. The Agreement extension is below.
Read more… American Cancer Society: Extension to Settlement Agreement
On April 24, 2012, Consumer World, a consumer education organization based in Massachusetts, published the results of its survey on Talking ATM and talking fare machines in Boston. The results show that far too many ATMs and fare machines are still not accessible to people with visual impairments. One bank that is doing a good job? Bank of America, where every ATM tested was a working Talking ATM.
Read more… Consumer World Publishes Boston Talking ATM Survey
As a lawyer who has represented the blind community for the past seventeen years, I feel a particular affinity for the story of Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese lawyer and human rights activist whose bravery has captivated news audiences the world over. Chen is being recognized across the globe for his courageous human rights work and his movie-quality escape from house arrest, Is he capturing media attention in part because he is blind? Maybe. While under any definition Chen would be a hero worth celebrating, Chen’s blindness is certainly part of what makes his story so compelling.
Read more… Chen Guangcheng, Activist Lawyer, is a Hero (Oh Yeah, and He’s Also Blind)
The settlement posted here extends the Agreement between Major League Baseball and the American Council of the Blind and its Massachusetts and California affiliates. This is the first agreement of its kind to address the accessibility of applications for mobile devices. MLB has agreed to use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA as its standard for mobile applications, and has recently released AtBat™ for the iPhone and iPad with enhanced accessibility.
Read more… First Addendum to MLB Settlement Agreement
The June 6, 2012 Google Alert for Talking ATMs included a news report, posted below, of the “first” Talking ATM in India. It was not the first time the Indian press covered accessible ATMs though. In September 2011 the Hindu Business Times reported on the experience of using a Talking ATM for the first time, but on closer read last Fall’s story may just have been describing temporary installations. Whether or not Union Bank of India has installed the first or second Talking ATM, congratulations go out to advocates in the Indian blind community and that country’s banking industry for recognizing the importance of accessible technology.
Read more… Talking ATMs in India
On June 8 Walmart announced that it is now providing the ScripTalk Talking Prescription Containers free of charge to persons with visual impairments as part of a pilot program. The ScripTalk Talking Prescription program is being offered to customers across the country through Walmart mail order, and also at three Walmart stores. Read the Walmart…
Read more… How to Order Walmart Talking Prescription Containers
Those who believe that web content should be available to everyone regardless of disability received welcomed news on Tuesday, June 19. On that day, a federal district court judge in Massachusetts held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to web-only businesses. The ruling came in a case brought by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) against Netflix for the streaming video giant’s faiure to provide closed captioning on most of its “Watch Instantly” programming streamed on the Internet.
Netflix had tried to get the case thrown out of court, arguing that the ADA only applies to physical places, and not to a web-only operation like Netflix’ streaming video service. The Judge rejected this argument, and the case will now move forward. The U.S. Department of Justice also played a significant role by entering the case in support of the plaintiffs’ position.
Read more… Federal Judge Rules that ADA Covers Web-only Businesses
