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Accessibility News International
Accessibility News International will strive to bring you as much information as possible from around the Globe regarding issues of accessibility for the Disability Community.
National Federation of the Blind Condemns Lack of Access to New Kindle Fire
Baltimore, Maryland September 29, 2011
The National Federation of the Blind commented today on the release of Amazon’s new Kindle Fire, which cannot be used by people who are blind.
Justice Department Reaches Americans with Disabilities Act Settlement with Wells Fargo
Posted to site Sept 26, 2011
Original posting Tuesday, May 31, 2011
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today a comprehensive settlement agreement under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Wells Fargo & Company to ensure equal access for individuals with disabilities to Wells Fargo’s services nationwide, including its nearly 10,000 retail banking, brokerage and mortgage stores, over 12,000 ATMs, and its telephone and website services.
DOT Seeks Websites and Kiosks Accessible to Disabled
September 19, 2011 By:
George Dooley, Travel Agent
A new regulation that would require airlines to make their websites accessible to individuals with disabilities and ensure that their ticket agents do the
same, has been proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The DOT also wants airlines to make automated airport kiosks at U.S. airports accessible to passengers with disabilities.
U.S. airports that jointly own, lease or control such kiosks with airlines would also have responsibility for ensuring the accessibility of automated airport kiosks, DOT says.
Eye-Tracking Technology Could Benefit Disabled Children
19 July 2011
A computer program that could allow children with disabilities to explore their creative side is being developed by researchers at Royal Holloway, University of London.
The team has been working alongside the charity SpecialEffect to design a computer program that uses an eye-tracker to find out exactly how eye movements correspond with the participant’s preferences.
Once a pattern of eye-movements is identified for the user, algorithms manipulate designs on the screen so that they gradually evolve to match each person’s preferences.
The subjects were not told to look for their favourite design, but allowed the computer to ‘read their minds’ through their eye movements.
After Injury, a Job Can Be Vital Medicine
To get people with disabilities back to work, what works? BC’s plans are controversial.
By Ainslie Cruickshank,
Sept 15, 2011, TheTyee.ca
“There was a cracking sound and then searing pain,” said Amber Slusar.
“I just turned my head, literally to look out the window and enjoy the spring view and my muscle completely severed.”
Slusar, who is 27, was on a bus 10 years ago when the muscles in her neck tore. They were waiting to tear, she thinks, weakened by two previous injuries including severe whiplash from a rear-ender.
CNN.COM Sued by Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing for Lack of Captioning Videos on Its Website
Oakland, CA – June 15, 2011 – A class action lawsuit filed today in Alameda County Superior Court alleges that Time Warner Inc., the owner of CNN.com discriminates against people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing by failing to provide any captioning of its on-line videos on its website. The suit is the first of its kind in the country.
The suit is brought by The Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness (“GLAD”) on behalf of its members with hearing loss, and three individual plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are represented by Disability Rights Advocates (“DRA”), a non-profit disability rights legal center headquartered in Berkeley, California that specializes in high-impact cases on behalf of people with disabilities and Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian, a plaintiffs’ public interest class action law firm headquartered in Oakland, California.
