Unfortunately, Metro-North ignored the requirements of the ADA. As a result, the northbound platform remains inaccessible to wheelchair users and thousands of residents and visitors in the region do not have access to station and its amenities. Northbound wheelchair users must avoid the station altogether or take the train out of their way to the next stop and wait for a southbound train, just to be able to stop at Port Chester.
Yearly Archives: 2014
EEOC Settles Disability Discrimination Suit with Sony
Sony to Pay $85,000 under Decree Resolving EEOC Disability Discrimination Suit Posted on December 24, 2014
Electronics Giant Allegedly Engineered Firing of Employee Because of Her Prosthetic Leg
CHICAGO – Sony Electronics, Inc. will pay $85,000 under a consent decree entered in federal court today ending a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The EEOC alleged that Sony violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it brought about the termination of a woman with a prosthetic leg because of her disability.
The Next Frontier in ADA Litigation: Website and App Access for the Disabled
12/24/2014
by Joe Liburt, Tim Long, Jill Rosenberg
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
For the last several years, consumers have increasingly turned to online shopping as an alternative to traditional “brick and mortar” stores. Some reports showed that “Cyber Monday” sales figures beat out those for “Black Friday” this year, and many retailers are doubling down on their eCommerce efforts in response.
What many retailers might not be aware of is the growing risk of litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and derivative state laws arising from websites or mobile apps that allegedly discriminate against disabled individuals.
Gaming Technology Makes its Way Into Headsets for the Visually Impaired
Nov 25, 2014
EU researchers have developed a 3D headset that could help visually impaired people move around more safely and easily.
The DIGIGLASSES project, which kicked off in 2012, set out to develop a marketable digital tool for the
visually impaired using stereoscopic vision, corrected and customised for the specific symptoms of the user’s eye disease.
The project’s latest YouTube video announces the opening of product lines for participating SMEs. The project hopes it can be on market at the end of 2015.
With around 5 million people in Europe (285 million globally) living with a degree of
visual impairment that takes them beyond the help of normal glasses, the market for DIGIGLASSES’ innovative headset is clear.
Accessible Travel Kiosks Will Remove Barriers and Increase Independence
A new standard in the Canadian Transportation Agency’s amended Code of practice: Removing Communication Barriers for Travellers with Disabilities introduces automated self-service travel kiosks designed for people with disabilities at airports, railway and ferry terminals.
The standard stipulates that newly installed kiosks used for such things as self- service ticketing, check in and related functions should be accessible to people with disabilities starting December 31, 2016, with the ultimate goal of ensuring that 25 percent of kiosks are accessible by December 31, 2022.
The two-year implementation period gives manufacturers time to design, test and produce kiosks which feature updated hardware and software accessibility standards. The standards address issues such as height, position of monitors, touch screen functions, audio accessories, document readers, and warning tones.
The Badeyes WordPress Theme is Now Live and Available for Download!
It has been a long 4 months of researching code and using checking tools but WordPress has finally approved the Badeyes TwentyFourteen Child Theme and it is now live for anyone to download.
Read more at
http://www.badeyes.com/the-badeyes-wordpress-theme-is-now-live-and-available-for-download/
E-Book Legal Restrictions Are Screwing Over Blind People
e-books for the blind should be legal
By Kyle Wiens
Wired, Dec. 15, 2014
In late 2012, a 14-year-old high school student stood in front of a camera and began to read.
Chris Nusbaums voice was calm and steady. And so were his hands, which ran smoothly over lines of braille as he made a personal appeal to Amazon maker of the most widely-used e-reader in the world.
Echo Sense Network Glasses: Remote Vision for the Blind
Bill Holton
With the introduction of the Apple Watch and other smart watches from Google and Samsung, the buzz around “connected” eyeglasses such as Google Glass has subsided considerably. Work on these devices is still being done, however, and recently I had the opportunity to demo a pair of smart glasses that have been developed to assist the blind in orientation mobility, and other tasks where a bit of long-distance sighted guidance may be of help.
Echo Sense Network Glasses allow individuals with visual impairments to stream both audio and video related to their environment via a cell data connection. This stream can be accessed online by a sighted guide, who can communicate in real time with the glasses wearer, offering descriptions, navigational guidance, and other useful information.
Deaf and Blind Able to Shop Alone at Non-Profit Grocery Store
Braille signs and audio scanner help visually impaired shop for groceries independently
By Jesara Sinclair, CBC News Posted: Oct 16, 2014 4:16 PM PT Last Updated: Oct 17, 2014 3:23 PM PT
Pardeep Khrod says the Quest Food Exchange’s visually impaired customers have had a lot of fun using the audio scanner. The device scans the product barcode and tells customers what they are holding.
A non-profit food store in Vancouver’s east end has introduced Braille signs and audio scanners to allow deaf-blind and other visually impaired customers to shop independently.
The grocery markets operated by the Quest Food Exchange aren’t open to the public.Instead low-income clients are referred through a social services agency.
Google Can Now Tell You’re Not a Robot With Just One Click
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By Andy Greenberg
12.03.14 |
When Alan Turing first conceived of the Turing Test in 1947, he suggested that a computer program’s resemblance to a human mind could be gauged by making it answer a series of questions written by an interrogator in another room. Jump forward about seven decades, and Google says it’s now developed a Turing Test that can spot a bot by requiring it to do something far simpler: Click on a checkbox.
