Public accommodations are supposed to allow equal access and enjoyment of goods and services to all members of the general public, including blind or visually-impaired people. However, the complaint for this class action alleges that Brumate, Inc. does not bother to take the necessary steps to make its website accessible to those who must use screen readers and therefore violates Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The class for this action is all legally blind individuals in the US who have tried to access Brumate’s website and who have been denied access to the enjoyment of goods and services from Brumate during the applicable statutory period. A New York Subclass has also been defined.
Like some 2 million people in the US, plaintiff Aretha Crosson is legally blind. Technically, this means she has a visual acuity of 20 x 200 or less. Some such people have limited vision; others have no vision. Crosson uses the Internet with the help of a screen reader.
She is also a “tester,” the complaint says, “for the purposes of asserting her civil rights and monitoring, ensuring, and determining whether places of public accommodation and/or their websites and apps are in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
According to the complaint those who are blind or visually impaired have an even greater need of the Internet than sighted people, because of their limited mobility—for example, their inability to drive. It’s therefore important that they be able to access websites with their screen readers.
For screen readers to work properly, information on a website must be able to be put into text form. The World Wide Web Consortium, a standards organization, has issued version 2.0 of its Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) to assist companies and organizations with this process.
However, the complaint alleges that Brumate’s website “has chosen to rely on an exclusively visual interface.”
The Brumate website did not have sufficient alternate text, or alt-text, to be used with screen readers. Alt-text does not alter that appearance of the website to sighted persons. Alt-text is embedded beneath images and allow screen readers to vocalize the text.
Among the other barriers Crosson found were inaccessible drop-down menus; a lack of navigation links; inadequate prompting and labeling; no keyboard access to certain features; empty links that contain no text; redundant links, where adjacent links go to the same URL; and the requirement that transactions be performed with the use of a mouse.
The causes of action include violations of the ADA, the New York State Human Rights Law, the New York State Civil Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law.
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Civil Rights
Most Recent Case Event
Brumate Website Not Usable with Screen Readers ADA Complaint
January 18, 2021
Public accommodations are supposed to allow equal access and enjoyment of goods and services to all members of the general public, including blind or visually-impaired people. However, the complaint for this class action alleges that Brumate, Inc. does not bother to take the necessary steps to make its website accessible to those who must use screen readers and therefore violates Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Brumate Website Not Usable with Screen Readers ADA ComplaintCase Event History
Brumate Website Not Usable with Screen Readers ADA Complaint
January 18, 2021
Public accommodations are supposed to allow equal access and enjoyment of goods and services to all members of the general public, including blind or visually-impaired people. However, the complaint for this class action alleges that Brumate, Inc. does not bother to take the necessary steps to make its website accessible to those who must use screen readers and therefore violates Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Brumate Website Not Usable with Screen Readers ADA Complaint