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.
The unemployment rate for people with disabilities in the United States is at an unacceptable high rate. As the US Bureau of Labor Statistics stated in a February 2022 informational release: “Across all educational attainment groups, unemployment rates for persons with a disability were higher than those for persons without a disability.”
Two new resources from the US federal government address one type of barrier to the employment of disabled people: Algorithmic and Artificial Intelligence (AI) hiring tools that discriminate.
Read more… Two US Government Agencies Warn about Hiring Technology that Discriminates against Disabled Applicants
The Law Office of Lainey Feingold congratulates the lawyers and activists who used Structured Negotiations to hammer out a landmark agreement on hospital access for people with disabilities at two major Boston medical facilities. A press release announcing the accessibility initiative was issued on June 26, 2009. Kudos especially to Dan Manning, Litigation Director of Greater Boston Legal Services, who championed the Structured Negotiations approach to resolve the the Boston Hospital accessibility claims.
Read more… Structured Negotiations Behind Landmark Hospital Access Settlement
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
Recently I had the opportunity to ask an audience the first words that came to mind when I said “law in the digital accessibility space.” I heard what I often hear: “threatening” “ambiguous” “confusing.” Yet I heard something else too. I heard reference to the law in the digital space as a “powerful enabler”and a…
Read more… #ADA32: The ADA has applied to digital for decades
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
This post is part of an occasional series about recent legal developments impacting technology and information access for people with disabilities. This post covers activity from March 12, 2015 through August 10, 2015. You can find earlier Updates in the Legal Updates Category of this website. The series is illustrated by a toolbox — because law has proven an effective tool to improve the accessibility and usability of digital content, print information and technology for everyone. There are many ways to use the law, reflected by the many tools in the toolbox and by the updates reported in this post.
Read more… Digital Accessibility Legal Update (Summer 2015)
On July 28, 2022, AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) announced winners of the organization’s prestigious Purpose Prize for 2023. AARP, with over 38 million members, is one of the largest non-profit organizations in the United States. It chose Sharron Rush, founder and executive director of the digital accessibility consultancy Knowbility, as one…
Read more… Path-Breaking Accessibility Elder Sharron Rush Wins National AARP Prize
Below you will find new and updated articles about the digital accessibility legal landscape posted on this website since May 1, 2022. This is a time (like many) when I’m holding two conflicting realities. First, the law continues to recognize the right of disabled people to participate in the digital world (law = good). At…
Read more… Digital Accessibility Legal Updates on LFLegal (May 1 – July 10, 2022)
The Society of Human Relations Management (SHRM) describes itself as “the foremost expert, convener and thought leader on issues impacting today’s evolving workplaces. With 300,000+ HR and business executive members in 165 countries, SHRM impacts the lives of more than 115 million workers and families globally.” Now, as a result of a lawsuit filed in…
Read more… Professional development courses must be accessible: New lawsuit settlement in case against SHRM
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
