[Nfbc-info] Blind Breakthrough for Self-Service Kiosks

[Bryan Bashin]

Federationists,

 

Many of you who attended the recent San Francisco Discover You seminar will
have heard about the historic blind civil rights   settlement involving Red
Box.  Others have been inquiring about how and where to apply for
compensation.  The following notice is being circulated widely.  Please note
that you only have about 10 weeks before the deadline to apply ends.

 

Yours,

 

Bryan Bashin





After over two years of litigation and extensive negotiations, the
Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually-Impaired and its legal associates,
Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and the Law Offices of Jay Koslofsky, have
entered into a precedent-setting settlement agreement with Redbox, the
nation's largest operator of DVD rental machines.   Under the settlement
agreement, Redbox will modify its self-service DVD rental machines so that
they will allow for accessible, independent usage by the blind.  The
settlement will also compensate hundreds or thousands of blind Californians
for the inaccessibility of these machines in recent years.

 

Redbox offers the nation's most popular video-rental service for DVDs,
Blu-ray discs, and video games and operates thousands of video rental kiosks
in California.  The settlement ensures that Redbox's self-service kiosks
will deploy nonvisual accessibility features including:  headphone jacks,
tactile keypads, and text-to-speech services so that blind customers can
independently use, browse, select, pay for, pickup, and return Redbox
entertainment media.  Additional improvements will be made to Redbox's
website, redbox.com, to ensure that blind customers using screen-reading
technology can browse and reserve movies for pick-up and register for Redbox
services independently.  

 

In addition to these user-interface enhancements, the settlement contains a
$1.2 million class damages fund to compensate eligible settlement class
members who have been denied access to Redbox's services -- and who submit
valid claims before November 12, 2014.  If you experienced barriers
attempting to use a Redbox kiosk in California between January 12, 2010 and
November 12, 2014 or were deterred from using a Redbox kiosk in California
on a particular occasion during that time period because you knew that the
kiosks were not accessible to the blind, you may be eligible for monetary
compensation.  This includes blind Californians under the age of 18 with the
signature of their parent or guardian.

 

Information about the settlement agreement, including information about
filing monetary claims, is contained at: www.lighthouseredboxsettlement.com 

 

"This landmark agreement demonstrates that companies utilizing the internet
and self-service kiosks can and should do so while providing full access for
all potential customers-including blind people," said Lighthouse CEO Bryan
Bashin, "We hope that this agreement will lead to continued expansion of
access opportunities for customers with disabilities as self-service
technologies evolve."  

 

---

 

For further information about the Lighthouse for the Blind and
Visually-Impaired, please visit www.lighthouse-sf.org

 

For information about Disability Rights Advocates please visit
www.dralegal.org

 






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Posted by: LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
<lhnews at lighthouse-sf.org> 

  _____  



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