[Nfbmt] Swell reading

[d m gina]

Freeh, Jessica
To:
Subject:
MONSTER.COM FIRST IN INDUSTRY TO MAKE WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE FOR BLIND USERS


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                       MEDIA CONTACT:

January 30, 2013                                                        
Christopher Loh (AGO)

                                                                        
(617) 727-2543

                                                                        
Kristen Gugliotta (Monster)

                                                                        
(978) 461-8089

                                                                        
Chris Danielsen (NFB)

                                                                        
(410) 262-1281



MONSTER.COM FIRST IN INDUSTRY TO MAKE WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE FOR BLIND USERS

Effort a Result of Agreement Between Monster Worldwide and the Attorney 
General’s Office and National Federation of the Blind; First Job Search 
Website to Be Fully Accessible



BOSTON –The popular job search website Monster.com will be the first 
job search and recruitment website in the industry to provide job 
seekers who are blind with full and equal access to all of its products 
and services including mobile applications, Attorney General Martha 
Coakley, Monster Worldwide, Inc. and the National Federation of the 
Blind (NFB) announced today.



The announcement is the result of an agreement with the AG’s Office and 
the NFB and provides meaningful benefit to individuals nationwide who 
are blind or visually impaired, including more than 35,000 residents in 
Massachusetts. As part of the agreement, Monster will contribute 
$50,000 to the Commonwealth that will be used to fund the Massachusetts 
Commission for the Blind’s (MCB) job internship program. Monster will 
also make a $50,000 contribution to the NFB and serve as the title 
sponsor of the NFB’s annual convention in 2013.



“Unemployment and underemployment in the blind community are 
significant problems and given the extent to which computers and the 
Internet have become integral to our daily lives, it is essential that 
websites are accessible to everyone,” AG Coakley said. “We are pleased 
to have worked with the NFB and Monster to make the company’s valuable 
products and services accessible and to provide better employment 
opportunities to job seekers who are blind, visually impaired or have 
other print disabilities such as dyslexia.  We are hopeful that with 
the ability to access written information in an audible text to speech 
format, these users will now have access to jobs, and better jobs, than 
ever before.  We want technology to improve people’s lives, not create 
obstacles or barriers.”



“Over the past year, a team at Monster has been working closely with 
teams from the National Federation of the Blind and the Massachusetts 
Attorney General’s Office to enhance our Monster.com website in a way 
that will provide more opportunities for blind job seekers to find 
jobs,” said Mark Conway, Chief Information Officer, Monster Worldwide. 
“Although portions of our site were already accessible, we all agreed 
we could do more. Based on the work of these teams, the Monster.com 
site will be enhanced to make its website and mobile applications 
accessible to blind job seekers. This has been an enormous undertaking 
and is an exciting accomplishment for which we can all be proud.”



“The National Federation of the Blind works for full and equal access 
by blind Americans to all forms of digital information,” said Dr. Marc 
Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind. “Access to 
digital information and applications is critical to success in the 
twenty-first century in all areas of life, including searching and 
applying for career opportunities. We are therefore pleased that 
Monster is making this commitment to full and equal access to its 
website and mobile applications. We also thank the Attorney General of 
Massachusetts for being such a strong partner and advocate for accessibility.”



“We are excited to partner with Monster and the National Federation of 
the Blind to provide access to job opportunities available to 
individuals who are blind,” said Commissioner Janet LaBreck of the 
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. “The MCB internship program 
enables individuals the opportunity to access early work experience.  
Utilizing accessible technology available on Monster’s website to 
conduct a job search ensures that individuals who are blind can 
independently and successfully perform the same tasks as other job 
seeking candidates.”



To make its website and mobile applications accessible to job seekers 
who are blind, Monster is  making them compatible with innovative 
technology called screen access software that renders on-screen 
information into Braille or speech so that blind individuals can use 
keyboard commands to access the same information as sighted users.



In accordance with the agreement, Monster is in the process of making 
its desktop and mobile websites fully and equally accessible and will 
have its mobile applications accessible within two years. Monster has 
also ensured the templates employers use to post job advertisements on 
its site will be fully and equally accessible within six months.



Monster will also train its customer service representatives to assist 
users who are blind and will establish a standing committee to oversee 
implementation of the agreement and other issues related to 
accessibility in the future. In addition, Monster has agreed to work 
with the NFB to encourage higher education programs to incorporate 
accessible design and assistive technology in to their core curricula.



            The agreement is the most recent result of collaboration 
between AG Coakley’s Office and the NFB. Past collaborations have 
included making Apple’s iTunes services and Cardtronics ATMs fully and 
equally accessible to the blind.



            State and federal laws not only prohibit disparate 
treatment of individuals with disabilities in employment and housing, 
but also require that all businesses operating places of public 
accommodation provide people with disablities with full and equal 
enjoyment of their goods, services, and facilities.



Monster.com is the worldwide leader in connecting people to jobs and 
provides a full array of job seeking, career management, recruitment 
and talent management products and services in more than 40 countries.



This matter was handled by Assistant Attorney General Genevieve C. 
Nadeau and Paralegal Bethany Brown of Attorney General Coakley’s Civil 
Rights Division, and Assistant Attorney General Maura Healey, Chief of 
Attorney General Coakley’s Public Protection and Advocacy Bureau.

-- 
--Dar
skype: dmgina23
  FB: dmgina
www.twitter.com/dmgina
every saint has a past
every sinner has a future