[Nfbf-l] MONSTER.COM FIRST IN INDUSTRY TO MAKE WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE FOR BLIND USERS

[Alan Dicey]

Dear Friends,

Passing this along.

Sounds pretty good.

With Best Regards,

Alan

Miami, Florida

- - -

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.