Shopping Blind

There is something counter-intuitive in hearing that Target is being sued because its website is not accessible to the blind.

Thanks to technology, people who are blind can access web sites by  using keyboards in conjunction with screen-reading software which vocalizes visual information on a computer screen.

However, in order to have that access, the websites have to be coded in a specific way. Target, as well as many other retail websites , don't offer that coding. That in a nutshell is what the lawsuit is all about.

I  first heard about this lawsuit as I was browsing through some of the posts on the Blogher network. Now, given that I live in Minneapolis --the headquarters for Target Corporation I was a bit surprised that I hadn't heard about it in the local news.

But, when I went to the StarTribune  and the Pioneer Press Websites and did a search for "Target sued by blind student"  or "Blind Student sues Target," the searches came up empty. What's with that?

The Blogher post links to an article that ran in the San Francisco Chronicle on February 8th.

"Target thus excludes the blind from full and equal participation in the growing Internet economy that is increasingly a fundamental part of daily life," said the suit, which seeks to be certified as a class action and alleges violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and various state statutes.

A message left this morning to Target's corporate office in Minneapolis wasn't immediately returned.

Advocates for the blind said the lawsuit is a shot across the bow for retailers, newspapers and others who have Web sites the blind cannot use. They chose Target because of its popularity and because of a large number of complaints by blind patrons.

"What I hope is that Target and other online merchants will realize how important it is to reach 1.3 million people in this nation and the growing baby-boomer population who will also be losing vision," said plaintiff Bruce Sexton Jr., 24, a blind third-year student at UC Berkeley.

Sexton, who is president of the California Association of Blind Students, said making Target's Web site accessible to the blind would also make it more navigable by those without vision problems.

The lawsuit is causing quite a conversation within the tech community.To get a better understanding of the technology issues (or non-issues) behind this suit, there is a comprehensive conversation at Derek Featherstone's Box Of Chocolates.

Meanwhile when I typed in How do Blind People Shop Online on Google,   a Google Ad appearedon the right sidebar. It was for Target.