[Nfbc-info] Interested in speaking with blind United Airlines passengers

Karla Gilbride kgilbride at dralegal.org
Fri Mar 25 23:12:30 UTC 2011


Hello California Federationists:

 

Some of you may remember that in October of last year, NFB and three
California residents filed a class action lawsuit against United
Airlines regarding the kiosks that many passengers now use to print out
boarding passes, select seats and perform other tasks at the airport
without having to wait in line to speak with an agent. These kiosks do
not have any voice guidance feature or other means of nonvisual access,
so blind passengers cannot use the kiosks independently and are forced
to either ask sighted passengers for assistance in using them or wait
for help from an airline employee. NFB approached United about resolving
this problem cooperatively through the use of commercially available
technology, but United refused to commit to a solution without
litigation.

 

My firm, Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley, is representing the
NFB in this case along with Brown, Goldstein and Levy in Baltimore. The
primary purpose of the suit is to obtain a court order requiring United
to install accessible kiosks at airports in California, but the suit
also seeks damages on behalf of blind passengers who have flown on
United into or out of California since October of 2008 or who have plans
to fly on United in the future. If you have flown or will be flying on
United using an airport in California and would be willing to share your
experiences with the legal team, Disability Rights Advocates would be
very interested in speaking with you. Please contact Karla Gilbride at
510-665-8644 or by e-mail at kgilbride at dralegal.org. 

 

Thank you for helping us to make the experience of airline travel more
accessible to blind passengers. If you have any questions about this
litigation, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Sincerely,

Karla Gilbride

 

 


Karla Gilbride 
Staff Attorney 
Disability Rights Advocates 
2001 Center Street, Third Floor 
Berkeley, California  94704-1204 

510-665-8644  ext. 117 (Tel) 
510-665-8716 (TTY) 
510-665-8511 (Fax) 
kgilbride at dralegal.org 

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