[nfbmi-talk] blind pose case in penn

joe harcz Comcast joeharcz at comcast.net
Mon Feb 10 12:00:52 UTC 2014


Terry,

Not only are these stark violations of 504 and the ADA against  potential 
and actual blind employees and operators. But, many are stark violations of 
same against blind customers in the day to day operations of these 
establishments.

The POSD you reference are not only inaccessable to the blind employees but 
also customers who are blind.

Thus the suit from PA and other similar suits nationwide are quite relevent. 
And since these locations also are federally funded in large part there is a 
higher obligation to be fully accessable to all, blind employees, operators, 
and customers alike.

Now if I went to the Ops center would I be able to buy a cup of coffee or to 
self serve and pay for it independently and in secret (or at least my PIN)?

And I sure don't want any assistance from any sighted Essenberg cronies 
either. Why? II don't trust them so far as I can kick them.

And that is the point of accessability aside from being a civil right it is 
to protect us from fraud.

Joe
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Terry D. Eagle" <terrydeagle at yahoo.com>
To: "'NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List'" <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2014 8:37 PM
Subject: Re: [nfbmi-talk] blind pose case in penn


Michigan blind vendors of BS4BP have a greater challenge as merchants, as
their facilities are equipped with cash registers, credit and debit card
readers, and inventory systems that totally rely on sighted persons to
handle and communicate all financial business to the blind business owner.
Nowhere is this more visible than the state operations center, which was
most recently run by none other than Rob Essenberg, or should it be said,
managed by his sighted staff, and that is not the least of Essenberg's
operation as a blind person.  Just before leaving the café operation at the
Operations Center, to work for BS4BP, Essenberg got the Business Enterprise
Program to install a self-service checkout terminal, similar to a U-Scan at
grocery and other stores,  for café guests, which is totally inaccessible to
a blind person, which had to be programmed by a sighted staff person, is
handled each day by a sighted person for cash management purposes, and there
is no way for the blind business operator to check or verify the terminal
reporting and that which sighted staff say.  In addition, the one blind
employee at the café as a cashier, must rely on sighted fellow employees to
handle credit and debit card transactions, as the one card reader at the
cash register is also not talking or Braille accessible to a blind person.
What message does that send to the sighted public world?    The fact  is
that fully accessible equipment is available, it came down to BS4BP
management and Essenberg to choose to not make the operation accessible to
the blind operator and blind employee, in a food operation allegedly
operated for the blind.  Granted the accessible equipment is not inexpensive
compared to off-the-shelf equipment, but then, the BEP state audit
identified much financial waste and unaccountability, not to mention the
carry-over of millions of rehabilitation dollars, from year-to-fiscal-year,
year-after-year.  Even a sliver of that carry-over would outfit many a BEP
facility for blind operator and employee accessibility.  I guess Rodgers and
company would rather use taxpayer rehabilitation funds to pay sighted
student assistants of family and friends, to operate BEP facilities, and
function for blind operators, instead of making facility operations
accessible for the blind, and putting blind persons to work independently.
It all emcompasses an attitude and promotion of WORK-TO-WELFARE for the
blind of Michigan, on the part of Rodgers, LARA, and the Governor's
administration.

It is worth noting, that Essenberg was kind enough to assist the next
Operations Center blind operator, by raising the wage of his sighted manager
from $15 to $20 per hour.  Would you not say that was generous and
thoughtful of Essenberg?  After all, the sighted person must do all the
functions of the blind operator, since none are accessible to a blind
person; a condition to which Essenberg contributed to while he had the café
operation for over four years.  By the way, Essenberg, as a former member
and Chair of the blind Elected Operators' Committee (EOC), is on an audio
recording, in which he, Essenberg, advocates that BEP trainees be given
their BEP training class materials on a CD, as their chosen preferred
reading format, and deal with that which they are provided.

upon leaving the café operation, Essenberg joined Rodgers staff to become
paid $104,000 to administer the all new Business Assistance and Development
Program (BADP), an Ed Rodgers nightmare, which began with the plan to have
Tim Hortons coffee shop franchise, a Canadian company, operate the state
Capitol and House of Representatives office buildings food service
operations; that ended being buried after outrage over that brilliantly
conceived plan for a Canadian firm to operate food concessions in state
facilities.  The BADP and Rob Essenberg's mission allegedly is to find,
train, and place blind persons in private sector independent businesses.
Finally, it is this writer's prediction that Essenberg's sighted fromer
highly paid, and now more highly paid manager, will join Essenberg on his
division staff as a program manager.  Why not, she will continue to function
for Essenberg, and the potential blind independent private sector business
trainees.

In addition, upon completion of the sighted student assistants' education,
each sighted former student assistant can be placed in the private sector
business of an independent blind business owner, to assist the blind person
to function independently.

Finally, perhaps Rodgers and Essenberg may wish to recruit the independent
private sector business owner trainees from the self-employed tin cup
carrying street panhandlers, who have acquired successful public relations
skills while sharpening their income-producing trade, after being denied
BS4BP services, or were former BEP operators, who drowned at business
operation, for lack of appropriate and adequate training, accessible BEP
facilities, and lack of support from promotional agents, a fact supported by
the BEP state audit.


-----Original Message-----
From: nfbmi-talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of joe
harcz Comcast
Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2014 9:26 AM
To: nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] blind pose case in penn

Looks like a good suit to me....

We've got the same issue at numerous stores here in Michigan, but then again
we can't even get accessable information from BSBP or anywhere in state
government in a timely manner.

JOe
Wawa Forces Blind Customers To Reveal PINs, Suit Says



By Daniel Siegal

0 Comments

Law360, Los Angeles (January 15, 2014, 2:09 PM ET) --

Wawa Inc.

was hit with a proposed class action in Pennsylvania federal court Monday
alleging the convenience-store chain violated federal law by failing to
provide

point-of-sale devices with textured keys, forcing blind customers to divulge
their PINs when making debit card purchases.

Debra Rozear's complaint accuses the Pennsylvania-based company of failing
to comply with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act by only
providing

flat touch-screen devices for customers to use when making debit card
purchases.



According to the complaint, because the company's machines do not feature
textured keys that blind individuals can use to input their information,
those

individuals must share their PIN in order to make a debit card purchase on
the device, which leaves the blind individual susceptible to bank fraud.



"Defendant's noncompliance threatens blind people with the loss of their
private banking information," the complaint said. "Blind people who wish to
make

a debit purchase at defendant's stores have no choice but to reveal their
private PINs to others to complete the debit purchase."



According to the complaint, Rozear attempted to make a purchase at a Wawa in
Bethlehem, Pa., earlier this month, but was unable to do so independently
because

the store's point-of-sale device only had a flat touch-screen.



The complaint says that based on a subsequent investigation performed on
Rozear's behalf, a significant number of other point-of-sale devices in Wawa
stores

are similarly not useable by the blind.



"Defendant does not provide any auxiliary aids or services calculated to
make its [point-of-sale] devices fully accessible to, and independently
usable

by, blind people," Rozear says.



Wawa has locations in Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
and Virginia.



Providing auxiliary aids or services to enable blind people to use its
point-of-sale devices would not alter Wawa's business or be an undue burden
to the

chain, according to the complaint.



Rozear is seeking a declaratory judgment that Wawa violated the ADA and a
permanent injunction requiring Wawa to make its point-of-sale devices
useable

by blind people, or provide auxiliary aids or services.



Representatives for the parties did not immediately respond to requests for
comment Tuesday.



Rozear is represented by Bruce Carlson, Stephanie K. Goldin and Carlos Diaz
of Carlson Lynch Ltd.



Counsel information for Wawa was not immediately available.



The case is Rozear v. Wawa Inc., case number

5:14-cv-00164,

in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.



--Editing by Andrew Park.





http://www.law360.com/articles/500831/wawa-forces-blind-customers-to-reveal-
pins-suit-says
_______________________________________________
nfbmi-talk mailing list
nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
nfbmi-talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/terrydeagle%40yahoo.
com


_______________________________________________
nfbmi-talk mailing list
nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
nfbmi-talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/joeharcz%40comcast.net 





More information about the NFBMI-Talk mailing list