Judging a Book by its Cover

Posted on Updated on December 21, 2021
This post is about the hexagons on the cover of my book — Structured Negotiation: a Winning Alternative to Lawsuits. The hexagons were prominent in the first edition of the book, published by the American Bar Association (ABA) in 2016. They are in the background of the second edition, published in October 2021. Hexagons are the perfect symbol for a book about cooperation, trust, and resolving legal claims without the conflict, expense and stress of traditional litigation. Read more… Judging a Book by its Cover

CVS Spoken Rx November 2021 Press Release

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Congratulations CVS and the American Council of the Blind! Today CVS and ACB announced, in the press release posted here, the availability of talking prescription labels in every CVS Pharmacy location in the United States. This announcement resulted from a collaborative effort using Structured Negotiation. CVS’ talking prescription program is called Spoken Rx. Spoken Rx adds… Read more… CVS Spoken Rx November 2021 Press Release

U.S. Federal Judge Rules for Walmart, against Blind Shoppers, in Self-checkout Kiosk Case

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On October 12, 2021 a United States federal judge in Maryland ruled that Walmart does not have to make its self-check kiosks accessible to blind shoppers. This is a disappointing result in a case that started when a Walmart employee stole $40.00 from two blind shoppers while the employee was assisting them with the inaccessible self-check kiosk. Read more… U.S. Federal Judge Rules for Walmart, against Blind Shoppers, in Self-checkout Kiosk Case

Digital Accessibility Legal Update (December 2015)

Posted on Updated on October 10, 2021
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 August 11, 2015 through December 10, 2015. This update includes Department of Justice activity, the settlement of cases against Scribd and the General Services Administration, Structured Negotiation with Humana, an important new voting rights case, and other developments. Read more… Digital Accessibility Legal Update (December 2015)

Bank One Preliminary Talking ATM Press Release

Posted on Updated on August 31, 2021
The Bank One Press Release posted here was issued as a result of an initial settlement agreement that Bank One signed with Chicago blind activists Kelly Pierce and Anna Byrne using Structured Negotiations instead of litigation. In the 2001 Bank One Preliminary Settlement Agreement, the bank agreed to install Talking ATMs at 130 locations, making it the first bank with Talking ATMs in Illinois and Ohio. Two years later, the bank signed a comprehensive agreement providing for additional Talking ATMs, an alternative format policy, and an accessible web site. Read more… Bank One Preliminary Talking ATM Press Release

Talking ATM History: Early Structured Negotiations in New England and the Midwest

Posted on Updated on August 31, 2021
This post is one in an ongoing series on the history of the advocacy and technology behind Talking ATMs. A short summary of all articles in this series is available by selecting the Talking ATM History link on the Categories Page of this website. In this post you can read about early Massachusetts Talking ATM advocacy and Talking ATM efforts in Chicago and the Midwest. Read more… Talking ATM History: Early Structured Negotiations in New England and the Midwest

U.S. Federal Appeals Court Slams Unethical ADA Practice

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On August 17, 2021 judges in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld sanctions against a Florida lawyer (Scott Dinin) and his client (Alexander Johnson) because of unethical conduct in cases brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar Florida law. Sanctions are a way that a court can punish lawyers and clients for bad behavior. In this case the sanctions included requiring Johnson and Dinin to pay money to a disability-based nonprofit or the court and preventing them from filing ADA cases without the court’s permission. Read more… U.S. Federal Appeals Court Slams Unethical ADA Practice

Access Board Considers ADAAG Coverage for Self-Service Kiosks

Posted on Updated on June 22, 2021
The United States Access Board is currently considering proposed changes to the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) that would require certain self-service kiosks to be accessible to people with disabilities. Based on their experience with Talking ATMs and tactile point of sale devices, the Law Office of Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian of Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian, prepared comments on the Board’s proposal for use by persons interested in accessible devices. Those comments, all or parts of which were incorporated into submissions filed with the Board by several organizations, are posted here. Read more… Access Board Considers ADAAG Coverage for Self-Service Kiosks

MLB Continues Accessibility Initiative with AtBat™ App for iPhone and iPad

Posted on Updated on May 15, 2021
The press release 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… MLB Continues Accessibility Initiative with AtBat™ App for iPhone and iPad

LFLegal at 25

Posted on Updated on May 1, 2021
I opened my law office in the upstairs bedroom of my house on October 1, 1996, 25 years ago this Fall. It’s been a quarter century of practicing law in the digital accessibility space. And a quarter century of practicing law with what I now call dolphin skills (thus the image of jumping dolphins illustrating… Read more… LFLegal at 25