This is an area that continues to defy me -- why on earth would some retailers either refuse or not know how to properly serve disabled customers in the same fashion as regular customers?Yes, it costs capital to provide ramps into store entryways and accessible restroom doors, but the patronage of disabled customers and the positive media coverage (or rather the lack of negative media coverage, really) is an intangible that keeps stories like this from being published.
Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT), the nation's second-largest discount retailer, is now being sued because its site, Target.com, does not use a software that would convert the text on the computer screen for blind users. In other words, Target's Website doesn't comply with the ADA -- the Americans with Disabilities Act -- and it doesn't have to, according to the retailer. Target states that Internet websites are not covered by the ADA, while the National Federation for the Blind, the one suing target now, disagrees.
This lawsuit will most likely re-stir the pot on whether the ADA does in fact affect websites in addition to brick-n-mortar stores. While I've seen a decent effort at some websites to cater to the disabled -- particularly the blind -- most websites do not from my experience.
Reid Hoffman: LinkedIn will go public (at some point)
Retailers can't wait for Black Friday, open Thursday
Tiffany's serves up solid quarterly earnings
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-08-2006 @ 5:31PM
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