November 02, 2010Advocacy group for the blind sues United Airlines over kiosk technologyUnited Airlines is being sued by advocacy group for the blind. The suit alleges that United is violating the California Disabled Persons Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act because the services it provides through these kiosks are not available to blind passengers. Advocacy group for the blind sues United Airlines over kiosk technology - USATODAY.com By Roger Yu, USA TODAY An advocacy group for the blind has sued United Airlines, arguing that the carrier's airport kiosks use touchscreen technology that cannot be used by blind passengers. The National Federation of the Blind, the nation's oldest organization of blind people, and three blind individuals in California filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Airline kiosks provide flight information and allow passengers to check in for flights, print tickets and boarding passes. The suit alleges that United is violating the California Disabled Persons Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act because the services the airline provides through its kiosks are not available to blind passengers. "United could easily add an audio interface, a tactile keyboard, or interactive screen reader technology that works with touchscreens to its kiosks, as other companies have done," it says, in a statement. "The airline industry has an unfortunate history of discriminating against blind passengers, and now United Airlines is repeating that history by deploying inaccessible technology that we cannot use," says Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. "Blind passengers must wait in long lines at the ticket counter, even when they have already purchased their tickets and checked in online." Mike May, CEO of the Sendero Group, a manufacturer of technology for the blind, says "it is easy" for United to make its kiosks accessible. "There is simply no excuse for the long wait and inconvenience that other blind United passengers and I continue to experience at airports," he says. Posted Nov 2 2010 12:28PM United Airlines Discriminates Against Blind Passengers
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