June 08, 2007
ADA Compliance Notes
If you think you have no reason to be concerned about getting sued over the Americans with Disabilities Act, think again, especially if your company uses any self-service, application, or vending kiosks. Article from Inside Recruiting.
Because kiosks are electronic devices, and part of cyberspace, the ADA has said such kiosks are "fair game" for ADA liability coverage, according to Carolyn Burnette, partner in the law firm Shaw Valenza in California.
Rules apply to such kiosks, and all employers must provide "reasonable access," explains Burnette.
Burnette cited the example of how the National Federation of the Blind brought a class-action suit against a major retailer due to its inaccessibility issues. Burnette says to avoid a similar headache for your organization, companies should revise systems to include a Braille reader, audio prompts, and other links for disabled-access capabilities.
Burnette says immediate steps you can take include:
- Schedule periodic self-audits.
- Talk to vendors, have them look at equipment, and determine whether it meets current standards for disabled access.
- Visit the location and check physical access; be sure to keep all paths clear.
- Track the law, as it's extremely important to stay ahead of ever-changing compliance criteria.
Just last month, for example, Amtrak announced its second generation of self-service ticketing, fully compliant with all ADA guidelines. Beyond Braille and specially adapted headsets, other changes include new ticketing kiosks, security camera, barcode and credit-card readers, dual printers, and an encrypted PIN pad. The Amtrak kiosk was designed and engineered by KIOSK located in Colorado.
According to Francie Mendelsohn, president of Summit Research Associates, the University of Wisconsin's Trace Research and Development Center is a pioneer of cross-disability access. The system "pioneered" EZ Access, a simple set of buttons that allows universal access to technology. Mendelsohn also recommends the World Wide Web Consortium and CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology).
Finally, the Job Accommodation Network recommends the following ideas for employers to consider when purchasing equipment for the workplace:
- Evaluate whether the equipment can be maintained easily.
- Evaluate whether the equipment can be upgraded easily.
- Determine whether the system can be used by a majority of the workforce.
- Include the disability program manager, as well as representatives from information technology, purchasing, management, and safety departments when considering purchases that affect many employees. In the example of a Web conferencing system for training activities, consider options that make materials accessible to screen readers and captioning services.
- JAN, a division of the Department of Labor, also publishes a booklet on the ADA and your responsibilities as an employer.
Note: This article is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to offer specific legal advice. You should consult your legal counsel regarding any threatened or pending litigation. Carolyn Burnette, an employment lawyer at the firm Shaw Valenza, spoke about these and other employment law issues during a recent conference call. Subscribers to the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership can contact Todd Raphael about getting a tape.
June 28, 2005
Disabled Access to Kiosks
Most kiosks are not designed for access by disabled persons. Self-service kiosk check-in terminals at airlines are one example. California is considering legislation to change that.
By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT
Published: June 28, 2005
Even during peak travel times, the line at the American Airlines ticket counter in Philadelphia moves quickly for most business travelers. But not for Peggy Elliott, who waited nearly an hour to check in for a recent flight.
"People were zipping past me because they could use the self-service kiosks," said Ms. Elliott, a lawyer from Grinnell, Iowa. "I had to stand in a long line to wait for a ticket agent."
Then again, Ms. Elliott is not like most business travelers. She is blind.
New technologies, including airport check-in kiosks and Web-based reservations systems, have been heavily promoted by the travel industry as conveniences for customers. Unfortunately, they are not convenient for all customers.
Self-service airline terminals can be difficult or impossible to use for people with mobility, visual or hearing impairments. The same goes for hotel kiosks. And Web sites that are not carefully coded can be rendered useless to blind travelers who are using special screen readers to get access.
These shortcomings shut out more travelers than commonly thought. The latest census reported that one in five Americans have a "long-lasting condition or disability," including 9.3 million people with sight or hearing loss.
"Basically, they've developed all this technology with very little input by people with disabilities," said Candy Harrington, the editor of Emerging Horizons, a magazine about accessible travel. "I believe the travel industry wants to accommodate as many people as possible, but it's not easy."
For example, to make check-in kiosks work for travelers with visual impairments, the machines would have to undergo a costly retrofit to add a Braille reader or audio prompts. Alternately, the airline or hotel could provide an employee to help people with disabilities use the machines.
That is what should have happened to Ms. Elliott in Philadelphia, according to American Airlines. "The kiosks have agents and customer service representatives who circulate around them to offer assistance to any passenger who may need some sort of help with the process," said an airline spokesman, Tim Smith.
Read More -- Convenience, but Not for Everyone - New York Times
December 16, 2003
Accessibility and User Friendly
Hardware items help clear the path to accessibility
12/15/03; Vol. 22 No. 34
User friendly
By John McCormick
Special to GCN
Hardware items help clear the path to accessibility
There are tens of millions of disabled workers and potential workers in the United States and tens of millions more who could benefit from being able to communicate or learn more easily using computers.
But computer products haven�t always made it easy. At first, computer software was accessible for many disabled users because it was text-oriented, but early hardware was not very user-friendly.
As the computer revolution moved on and more accessible hardware and tools became available, Microsoft Windows and Web browsers, with graphical user interfaces that were not particularly easy for many disabled users to work with, became the standard.
But today, Windows operating systems and Internet Explorer, by far the dominant products in the government arena, come with many software accessibility features, and a wide array of hardware is available to make them easier to use.
Although most of the same companies have been involved in this field for well over a decade, recently some new companies, many of them foreign, have shown increasing interest in producing accessibility products that are filtering into the U.S. market through local distributors.
Accessible hardware generally is divided into categories according to impairment; for example, although many visually impaired users can simply use a standard keyboard, especially with speech feedback, some people prefer to have the keys labeled in Braille.
Prelabeled keyboards are available, as are stick-on labels that can be used to quickly and easily modify an existing keyboard.
Braille devices
Still other users regularly use Braille devices and can work much more easily with a real six-key Braille input device. They would find it as difficult to switch between Braille and QWERTY as other users would to switch between DVORAK and QWERTY.
Greystone Digital Inc.�s $159 Big Keys LX, for users with limited vision or motor control, has QWERTY and ABC versions.
Mobility impairments, many of which can easily be addressed by relatively inexpensive hardware, range from repetitive stress injuries to the challenges of quadriplegics who can only move their heads.
Some users need a guarded keyboard or one with large keys. This is important for those who lack fine motor control. Other users need a smaller-than-usual keyboard to compensate for impaired range of motion.
Customized keyboards can sometimes address cognitive impairment.
Using alternative hardware and software to make computers more accessible to disabled workers isn�t simply a good investment in experienced employees; in most instances, it�s the law.
Fortunately, it�s usually inexpensive. Most adaptive technology isn�t complex or sophisticated. Often a better mouse pad, or a more user-friendly workstation with adjustable keyboard mount, makes all the difference.
Adapting a desktop system can be as simple as raising the monitor up on a few phone books or duct-taping some cardboard glare shields to the side of the monitor.
But even severely impaired workers who can only move their heads can use a standard computer with the addition of voice recognition software and a head-mounted cursor controller. The total cost could easily be less than $2,000 for such individuals, which almost certainly meets the Americans with Disabilities Act�s definition of a reasonable accommodation requirement.
Many off-the-shelf ergonomic products can also adapt workstations for disabled users. Before you explore the expensive customized devices that are really intended for severely impaired users, consider the alternatives you can find in any office supply catalog.
These include monitor and keyboard arms or larger monitors. You might even find that customizing software�for example, adding boilerplate and macros to a word processor program�is all that�s needed.
In the accompanying chart, I�ve tried to focus on less-well-known companies and devices, some of them new to the market.
For the most comprehensive list of adaptive technology, check out the site, at www.abledata.com, of Abledata of Silver Spring, Md., sponsored by the Education Department�s National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The site includes a searchable online database that lists nearly 20,000 individual adaptive devices and programs.
John McCormick is a free-lance writer and computer consultant. He was a judge in the 1991-92 Johns Hopkins National Search for Computing Applications to Assist Persons with Disabilities and is the author of a 1994 book on adaptive office technology that was co-sponsored by Government Computer News.
November 17, 2003
Feds fine Delta
Delta Air Lines agreed to a $1.35 million civil penalty for failing to provide adequate help to passengers using wheelchairs.
Feds fine Delta for wheelchair allegations
By RUSSELL GRANTHAM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Delta Air Lines agreed to a $1.35 million civil penalty for failing to provide adequate help to passengers using wheelchairs.
The Department of Transportation said the Atlanta airline's fine is the largest so far for alleged violations of the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act.
"We found it was a serious violation," DOT spokesman Bill Mosley said.
However, Delta will only have to pay the government $100,000 if it reduces complaints from disabled passengers and spends at least $1.25 million to improve services.
The DOT said Delta failed to provide wheelchairs in some cases, or was slow to help passengers, or left passengers stranded in wheelchairs or on planes for extended periods. Under terms of the deal, Delta did not admit to the allegations.
Since March, the DOT has fined 10 carriers under the act. Previously, the largest was a $1.2 million fine levied on American Airlines. Last month, the DOT assessed a $125,000 penalty against AirTran Airways, the Orlando-based discount carrier that has its flight hub in Atlanta.
The DOT typically agrees to cut the fine dramatically if the airline agrees to spend a certain amount on better service to disabled passengers.
Delta spokesman John Kennedy said the carrier is spending more than the required $1.25 million, including $2 million on a computer training system to make employees and airport contractors more familiar with the requirements of the law. He said Delta was also the first to create a manager position to monitor compliance with the law.
"Delta is fully committed to meeting the terms of the order," said Kennedy.
The DOT said Delta's fine was based on a "significant number of apparent violations" revealed during an investigation of passenger complaints filed with the DOT and Delta from 2000 to 2002.
The law requires airlines to help passengers on and off planes, to have space reserved to store wheelchairs, and to promptly deal with complaints