[gui-talk] Montgomery County Discriminates Against Blind Employee

[Nadia Cioffi]

what a sham we can't be "treated like normal" Sometimes people and their
bottem dollor is they care about. Wish the NFB luck, this will be a
landmarke case if won and teach people not to do this.

On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 5:17 PM, Freeh, Jessica <JFreeh at nfb.org> wrote:

>
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>
>
> CONTACT:
>
> Chris Danielsen
>
> Director of Public Relations
>
> National Federation of the Blind
>
> (410) 659-9314, extension 2330
>
> (410) 262-1281 (Cell)
>
> <mailto:cdanielsen at nfb.org>cdanielsen at nfb.org
>
>
>
>
> Montgomery County Discriminates Against Blind Employee
>
>
>
> Rockville, Maryland (April 13, 2011): With the assistance of the National
> Federation of the Blind, a blind woman who was until recently employed as an
> information specialist with Montgomery County's Department of Health and
> Human Services has filed suit against the County for unlawful discrimination
> under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  The suit arises from the County's
> purchase of an inaccessible database program that employees of its new 311
> call center must use to complete their tasks.  Yasmin Reyazuddin worked in
> the call center of the County's Department of Health and Human Services:
> Division of Aging and Disability Services until the County consolidated that
> call center and others into its new Montgomery County 311 Call Center.  Ms.
> Reyazuddin had been using screen access software, which converts information
> on a computer screen into synthesized speech or into Braille that can be
> displayed on a device known as a refreshable Braille display, to access the
> computer programs with which she needed to interact in order to provide
> accurate information to callers, keep records of calls, and perform other
> tasks necessary for resolving the concerns of callers.  When she learned
> that her agency's call center would be consolidated into the County's new
> 311 call center, she repeatedly inquired of County officials whether the
> software for the new call center would be accessible with screen access
> technology and provided information to the County about accessible
> solutions.  For the new call center, the County ultimately procured a
> database system from Oracle known as Seibel Customer Relationship Management
> (CRM).  According to its manufacturer, this software can be configured to
> work with screen access software, but the County installed a custom
> configuration of the software that is not accessible to blind employees.
>
>
>
> Ms. Reyazuddin was originally scheduled to be transferred to the new call
> center with other information specialists, but was not allowed to be
> transferred when she raised concerns about the accessibility of the CRM
> program.  Ms. Reyazuddin has not been allowed to test the software for
> accessibility, and although Oracle provided the County with documentation
> describing how the software could be made accessible, the County has not
> implemented an accessible configuration of the software.  Ms. Reyazuddin has
> been downgraded from an information specialist to a support staff position
> at the County Department of Health and Human Services, and she is only given
> duties that fill approximately half of an eight-hour work day.  She has been
> informed that her pay will also be cut because the County claims that her
> multilingual skills are no longer being used in her new assignment.
>
>
>
> Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
> "Yasmin Reyazuddin has been treated shamefully and with deliberate disregard
> for her legal and civil rights by Montgomery County.  Instead of taking the
> steps necessary to make the database program used by employees of the
> Montgomery County 311 Call Center accessible, the County has reassigned her
> to a lower-paying job in which her skills are not being used.  We cannot and
> will not tolerate this discrimination against her and other blind County
> employees."
>
>
>
> Ms. Reyazuddin said: "Despite my ten years of service to Montgomery County,
> I am now being shifted to a lower-paying position with little to do.  I
> could do all of my former job duties if the County would follow Oracle's
> guidelines for making CRM accessible, but instead I am largely relegated to
> idleness.  The situation has caused me considerable emotional distress.  I
> did not want to resort to litigation but I feel that I have no choice if I
> am to once again be a productive employee of Montgomery County."
>
>
>
> The plaintiff is represented with the assistance of the National Federation
> of the Blind by Joseph B. Espo and Timothy R. Elder of the Baltimore firm
> Brown, Goldstein & Levy.
>
>
>
> ###
>
>
>
>
>
> About the National Federation of the Blind
>
>
>
> With more than 50,000 members, the National Federation of the Blind is the
> largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the
> United States.  The NFB improves blind people's lives through advocacy,
> education, research, technology, and programs encouraging independence and
> self-confidence.  It is the leading force in the blindness field today and
> the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004 the NFB opened the
> National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
> training center in the United States for the blind led by the blind.
>
>
>
>
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