[NFBWV-Talk] West Virginia University Sued Over Inaccessible Educational Technology Guest article by civil rights lawyer Eve HIll

[David Andrews]

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>Law Office of Lainey Feingold - Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 11:51 AM
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>West Virginia University Sued Over Inaccessible 
>Educational Technology Guest article by civil rights lawyer Eve HIll
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>This article is written by Eve Hill, one of the 
>leading disability rights lawyers and digital 
>accessibility legal specialists in the United 
>States. 
>(<https://www.lflegal.com/2025/03/west-virginia-university-lawsuit/#bio>More 
>about Eve at the end of this article.) Eve 
>shares information about a lawsuit her law firm 
>recently filed against a United States public 
>university under the Americans with Disabilities 
>Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation 
>Act. The suit is about the failure of the 
>university to provide accessible technology and 
>other accommodations to two blind graduate students.
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>As Eve writes below, the lawsuit reminds us that 
>the ADA currently prevents discrimination 
>against disabled students in public universities 
>even though regulations with technical 
>requirements for web and mobile accessibility 
>are not yet in effect. The lawsuit is also a 
>welcome reminder that private civil rights 
>lawyers will continue to enforce the law and 
>protect the rights of disabled students during 
>this time when we can no longer count on federal agencies for this work.
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>Jump to:
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>What this case is about
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>Two blind students, the National Federation of 
>the Blind, and its West Virginia affiliate filed 
>a lawsuit against West Virginia University last 
>week for using inaccessible technology and 
>materials, failing to offer readers, and placing 
>blind students in inaccessible field placements. 
>(An image of a large brick building on campus accompanies this article.)
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>The two students, Miranda Lacy and Harold Thomas 
>Rogers, are in the online Social Work Masters 
>program at WVU. In stark contrast to their 
>undergraduate experiences at other universities, 
>WVU required the use of inaccessible learning 
>and collaboration platforms and inaccessible 
>educational materials including text books. 
>According to the NFB press release, the University’s
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>use of inaccessible software, such as 
>Blackboard, VoiceThread, and Tevera, prevents 
>blind students from navigating their coursework 
>and logging required internship hours independently.
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>As if that weren’t bad enough, they would not 
>provide human readers to help blind students access these materials.
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>Mr. Rogers and Ms. Lacy have spent hours of 
>their own time advocating with WVU to address 
>accessibility barriers and helping WVU address 
>those barriers, instead of being able to study 
>or rest and relax, as sighted students can. WVU 
>also required Ms. Lacy and Mr. Rogers to work at 
>field experiences that were not accessible, 
>leading to Mr. Rogers having to delay his graduation.
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>The suit seeks to require WVU to adopt policies 
>and procedures to ensure learning technology and 
>materials are accessible in advance. It also 
>seeks damages (payments to the clients) for the 
>educational benefits that were denied to the 
>students and attorneys’ fees for the 
>students’ lawyers as allowed by law. The 
>students are represented by Eve Hill, Erin 
>O’Neill, and Julie Orozco of the civil rights 
>firm <http://browngold.com>Brown, Goldstein & 
>Levy and <https://www.drofwv.org/>Disability Rights of West Virginia.
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>The ADA still applies even though the 2024 Title 
>II website regulations are not yet in effect
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>This case is another reminder that, even though 
>the new 
><https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule/>ADA 
>Title II website and mobile app Rule is not yet 
>in effect, colleges and universities already 
>have obligations to ensure equally effective 
>communication with students with disabilities. 
>The Rule goes into effect in 2026 or 2027, 
>depending on the size of a public organization.
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>For another recent legal action with the same 
>message, see the article on this website titled 
><https://www.lflegal.com/2025/02/louisiana-web-case/>Web 
>Accessibility Lawsuit Moves Forward Against the 
>State of Louisiana: Judge refuses to throw case 
>out of court just because deadlines for Title II 
>technical standards are in the future.
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>About Eve Hill
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>Eve Hill, one of the nation’s leading 
>disability and civil rights attorneys, is a 
>partner in the civil rights law firm of 
><http://browngold.com>Brown, Goldstein, & Levy. 
><https://inclusivity.consulting/>Inclusivity, 
>started by Eve, is the strategic consulting arm 
>of the firm. She previously served as Deputy 
>Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. 
>Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, 
>where she was responsible for oversight of the 
>Division’s disability rights enforcement and 
>educational civil rights implementation. Her 
>responsibilities included enforcement, 
>regulation, and policy development regarding 
>accessibility requirements for websites and 
>other digital technology; Olmstead community 
>integration requirements in employment and 
>education; and disability rights in education, 
>law enforcement, and health care.
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