[gui-talk] Montgomery County Discriminates Against Blind Employee

Wed Apr 13 22:18:56 UTC 2011

well lest hope they can get some good proof. All I'm saying is that this
would be good landmark case if won
hope they win to
Joe:
Have a computer quation for you, how do input videos files in office 2010
that will also work with 2003?
thanks
Nadia

On Wed, Apr 13, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Jorge Paez <computertechjorgepaez at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Not gonna take sides,
> but from a legal standpoint this is gonna be a hard one.
>
> Wish the NFB the best.
>
> Jorge
>
>
> On Apr 13, 2011, at 6:12 PM, Nadia Cioffi wrote:
>
> > 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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