1. During the past three decades, the courts have helped define the extent to which a particular business must change to accommodate the disabled. Consider the following: The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is a nationwide, non-profit organization with some 50,000 members, most of whom are blind. Its mission is to aid the blind in their efforts to integrate themselves into society and to remove barriers and change social attitudes, stereotypes, and mistaken beliefs concerning the limitations created by blindness. Using JAWS screen reading software, Bruce Sexton, a legally blind man, can access the Internet to research products, compare prices, and make purchasing decisions. But when he tried to use Target.com—a Web site owned by the nationwide chain-store that enables customers to access information regarding Target store locations and hours, refill prescriptions, order photos, print coupons, and shop online—he could not make it work. Sexton and the NFB sued Target for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
(a) What arguments can you make on behalf of Target? The blind plaintiffs? Find out what has happened in the actual case, National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation, 2007 WL 2846462 (N.D. Cal. 2007).
(b) How important is it for the blind to be able to access ATMs independently?
2. In a lawsuit filed in 2006, the U.S. Treasury was accused of violating the Rehabilitation Act (the law that preceded the ADA) by failing to issue paper currency that was readily distinguishable by blind and visually impaired people. Of the 180 nations that issue paper currency, only the United States prints bills identical in size and color in all denominations. Raised symbols enable the blind to distinguish bills printed by Canada, Argentina, China, and Israel. New bills are constantly being printed—especially $1 bills—and the United States made major design changes in 1996.
(a) Should the government do another re-design to address the needs the blind or visually impaired?
(b) Visit the NFDB Web site. What other issues are of concern to the blind and partially sighted?