Blind User Sues Southwest Over Web Site, Cites ADA

scubacuda writes "According to Law.com, Robert Gumson, a blind man who uses a program that converts website content into speech, is suing Southwest Airlines (with the help of Miami Beach, FL-based Access Now) for its website being incompatible with his screen-reader program. The case has been filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act under the untested legal theory that ADA provisions on the accessibility of public accommodations to the disabled apply to Internet Web sites just as they do to brick-and-mortar facilities like movie theaters and department stores. There have been previous lawsuits alleging that the ADA applies to the Internet, but all have settled without a ruling on the merits: 1999 the National Federation of the Blind sued AOL alleging its service was inaccessible to blind users (AOL agreed to make its sites compatible with screen reader technology); over the past two years, Access Now has sued Barnes & Noble and Claire's Stores for maintaining Web sites that allegedly violated the ADA (both settled)."

Comments

Re:I think the answer is easy

[raian]

This would be like me walking into Target (or any other store) and suing them because they don't sell XL-Tall shirts that will fit me.

No, it would be like you not being able to walk into Target because you can't fit through the door.

ummm

[cr@ckwhore]

Yeah, so a blind guy is pissed off that he can't "read" one website... one website of many that he can "read".

Quite frankly, the bastard is lucky enough to have technology that allows him to "read" a primarily visual medium in the first place! This kind of thing really pisses me off, because our society goes out of its way to help our defective members.

I think his claims are a farce because because he could have used the telephone to place a call to SouthWest. Fact is, he had alternative routes to obtain the information he desired.

Lets draw a few parallels (or analogies as we call 'em here)...

Would it be any different if a deaf person were to sue the RIAA because he couldn't "hear" his music?

I don't use the Flash plugin... so I can't read a lot of websites I'd like to visit. I also use linux, so again, some websites are out of my reach. Although I don't have a disability, would my situation constitute grounds for legal action?

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Re:Why this isn't a joke...

[cr@ckwhore]

Regarding handicapped parking spaces ...

I think handicapped spaces should be located in the back of the lot, because these people have their own personal transportation devices.

For those not in a wheelchair, there's no need to park in a handicapped spot. Example: every day, I watch a woman through my office window park her car in a handicapped spot, and then get out and literally walk laps around the parking lot for excercise. She does this every day, and we have a nickname for her... "special parking lot lady".

Shit, she definetely didn't need that handicapped spot! Actually, she should have parked in the back of the parking lot and taken the exercise of walking to her apartment door rather than walking in circles. It would at the very least be more productive.

What about MY disability?

[Ben Jackson]

I was born with a rare condition that prevents me from viewing Flash objects. Can the crack slashdot legal community advise me about how to pursue my lawsuit against the many abusers of Flash?

Re:All Sites

[esobofh]

Great, we all suffer because of one assholes affliction.