Web and Mobile Accessibility

This topic includes all settlement agreements, press releases, legal updates and other articles on Lainey Feingold's website about web and mobile access, also known as digital access. Lainey has been working on this issue since she and her colleagues negotiated the country's first financial institution web accessibility agreement with Bank of America in 2000.

Digital Accessibility in the New Political Reality

Posted on Updated on January 2, 2017
Five days before the election I wrote a post about what a Donald Trump presidency could do to the ongoing struggle for equality in the digital space. I wrote from my heart and from a place of fear. While I am despondent over the election, and still believe what I wrote on November 3, I realize it was only half the story. Now I feel a new responsibility: to remind us all that digital accessibility is here to stay. That despite obstacles the new administration will throw in the path of progress, disabled people will continue to insist on their civil rights. And the law, possibly battered and bruised, or temporarily in retreat, will be there to help. Read more… Digital Accessibility in the New Political Reality

Digital Accessibility Legal Update (CSUN 2015)

Posted on Updated on December 30, 2016
This post is a version of the presentation Lainey Feingold gave in March 2015 at CSUN – the International Technology and People with Disabilities conference held annually in San Diego, California and sponsored by California State University Northridge (CSUN). The presentation covered legal developments in digital accessibility since CSUN14 (March 2014 through March 7, 2015). Read more… Digital Accessibility Legal Update (CSUN 2015)

Post-Trump Digital #A11y Legal Update

Posted on Updated on November 14, 2016
As I’ve spoken and written about advancements in digital accessibility for the past few months, I’ve felt momentum is finally building for accessible information and technology, issues my clients, co-counsel and I have worked on for two decades. I’ve been excited to report how the United States Department of Justice is an accessibility champion and how the Deaf community is fighting (and winning) for the right to captioned media. It’s been gratifying to share information about disabled students claiming their right to accessible course materials, supported by the federal Department of Education. And I’ve been proud to report on the organizations that continue to work collaboratively, without lawsuits, in Structured Negotiation, the subject of my just-published book. All that is at stake in this election. Read more… Post-Trump Digital #A11y Legal Update

Care about Digital Access? Let the U.S. Government Know

Posted on Updated on October 5, 2016
The United States Department of Justice needs to hear that web accessibility regulations matter to disabled people. Can you help? This post will explain how. A new government notice  asks 123 questions about public sector web accessibility.  You can read the full notice, but you don’t have to read all the questions, or even answer any particular one.  The most important thing people who care about full digital equality and inclusion can do is tell the government why public sector web accessibility matters. Read more… Care about Digital Access? Let the U.S. Government Know

E*Trade Announces Accessibility Initiative

Posted on
NEW YORK, JUNE 21, 2016 – E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) today announced an initiative to enhance its website, mobile applications, and desktop trading and investing platforms to make them more accessible for customers with disabilities. E*TRADE worked with representatives of the blind community to enhance its platforms for traders and investors with visual impairments: Having full access to financial investing tools is important for everyone. I’m happy that E*TRADE will make its web and mobile platforms more accessible, particularly for people who are blind or partially sighted, when it comes to all aspects of trading and investing.Pratik Patel, long-time E*TRADE customer who is blind Read more… E*Trade Announces Accessibility Initiative

Blind Advocacy for Accessible Technology Has Rich California History

Posted on Updated on May 18, 2016
October 10 – 16, 2010, has been designated by the California legislature as the state’s first ever “Disability History Week.” The official designation is the result of disability community advocacy efforts spearheaded by “Youth Organizing! Disabled and Proud”, a project of the the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers. This historic week provides a welcomed opportunity to look at the history made by blind advocates and their organizations in California as part of the on-going push for accessible technology. Read more… Blind Advocacy for Accessible Technology Has Rich California History

Houston Transit Agency Digital Access Settlement Agreement

Posted on Updated on March 21, 2016
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

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

Posted on Updated on March 13, 2016
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

New York A.G. Announces Comprehensive Web Access Settlement

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
Congratulations to New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo’s office for its announcement this week of a comprehensive accessibility settlement with HSBC Card Services. Read the NY AG’s press release. The settlement, negotiated by attorney Jeffrey Powell in the Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection, addresses web accessibility, alternative formats for visually impaired customers, relay service for deaf and hearing impaired customers, and other important accessiblity issues. Under the Agreement, the HSBC web site will satisfy Conformance level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, promulgated by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (w3c) no later than May 31, 2010. Read more… New York A.G. Announces Comprehensive Web Access Settlement