It is also a reminder of why it’s important to keep the pressure on government and private entities to make public places accessible to all.
“The sort of run-of-the mill storefronts, restaurants, retail store, those really should be accessible now and a lot are but too many still are not,” said Kenneth Shiotani, senior staff attorney for the National Disability Right Network, which is based in Washington, D.C.
He said outdoor spaces, such as beaches and trails, pose more challenges than man-made structures when it comes to accessibility and for that reason, new guidelines were set for them in 2013. But Meridian Hill Park, which boasts of having the largest cascading fountain in the country, seems much more structured than other outdoor spaces, he said.
“I think the wedding party had reasonable expectations that 30 years later [after the ADA was passed] a federal park would be accessible,” Shiotani said. “It’s a public park, it’s paid for by public dollars, it should ultimately be accessible for everybody.”
The Department of Justice today announced payments by Greyhound Lines, Inc. totaling $2,966,000 to over 2,100 individuals who experienced disability discrimination while traveling or attempting to travel on Greyhound. The payments were part of a broader settlement from 2016 resolving the Department’s complaint that Greyhound, the nation’s largest provider of intercity bus transportation, engaged in a nationwide pattern or practice of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to provide full and equal transportation services to passengers with disabilities. The $2,966,000 amount is in addition to $300,000 paid by Greyhound in 2016 to specific individuals identified by the Department, bringing the total distributed to individuals to over $3,250,000. To read the press release regarding this event, click here. For more information about the ADA, call the Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or access the ADA website at www.ada.gov.
New know-how being examined by the Lengthy Island Rail Street goals to provide riders with disabilities additional help when boarding a practice.
The LIRR’s Glen Head station is the primary to host the brand new “Help Point” kiosk function, which assists riders with special wants in getting the eye of railroad personnel on an arriving practice.
The kiosk includes a button marked “boarding assistance” that, when pressed, prompts a flashing yellow beacon that notifies practice crew members who may help the client, together with by establishing a bridge plate to help get wheelchair customers onto a practice.
The kiosk additionally has buttons for patrons to inform authorities of an emergency, or to communicate immediately with LIRR personnel for info.
LIRR president Phillip Eng, speaking about this system at a Might MTA Board assembly, stated it stemmed from suggestions from clients with particular needs, including those who stated that they had specific problem getting crew members’ attention during nighttime hours.
“This can give them extra confidence that they will be observed,” Eng stated. “It’s a method of displaying that we’re listening to clients.”
U.S. Access Board to Conduct Webinars on Website Accessibility (September 5 and 24)
Access to websites is essential in today’s digital environment for obtaining information, downloading data, sharing media, obtaining goods and services, and making other transactions. Many websites, however, remain off-limits to people with disabilities, particularly those with sensory impairments, because they are not structured and coded properly for accessibility. The U.S. Access Board, which maintains accessibility standards for information and communication technology in the federal sector under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, is conducting free webinars in September on how to evaluate websites for accessibility.
An introductory webinar on September 5 from 2:30 – 4:00 (ET) will cover online barriers to accessibility and explain how to check that web content is accessible to all visitors using the Board’s Section 508 Standards. Presenters will review key components of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines issued by the World Wide Web Consortium, which are incorporated by reference in the Section 508 standards. They will also discuss common problems and easy solutions and share practical tips for improving website accessibility. Attendees can pose questions in advance or during the live webinar. This session is intended for both a general audience as well as website designers and content managers who are experienced, but new to accessibility.
For more information or to register for this session, visit www.accessibilityonline.org. This webinar series is hosted by the ADA National Network in cooperation with the Board. Archived copies of previous Board webinars are available on the site.
Advanced Session – Webinars on Website Accessibility
A more advanced session will take place September 24 from 1:00 – 2:30 (ET) as part of the Board’s Section 508 Best Practices Webinar Series. This session is intended for federal employees involved in procuring web services and products who may not have a technical background but who are responsible for compliance with Section 508. It will follow the “user story” of a non-technical federal employee who has been recently assigned 508 oversight responsibilities for a web services contract. Presenters will review requirements for web content in the 508 Standards and address technical requirements for procurement contracts, how to verify that procured services and deliverables are fully compliant, and available resources and tools for evaluating website accessibility and fixing access issues.
Visit www.accessibilityonline.org/cioc-508 for further details or to register. The Section 508 Best Practices Webinar Series is made available by the Accessibility Community of Practice of the CIO Council in partnership with the Board.
Special thanks to Matt Feldman for his contributions.
From airports and train stations to government offices, restaurants, grocery stores and retailers, the use of kiosk machines is widespread as a convenience for customers and an alternative to human service by the kiosk provider. Long gone are the days where an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) was the only form of kiosk a person might need to use. It is now commonplace to find common service functions are now performed through kiosk solutions. As the use of kiosks grows, so does the need to ensure they are accessible and usable for all people, including those with disabilities.
The application of accessibility standards to kiosk machines
While there is no universal set of standards that provide specific guidance around making kiosks accessible, there are standards that may be useful. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 standards provide direction in making web content accessible. These standards will be most applicable when the kiosk interface is presented in an HTML or web-based format. For example, a bank kiosk may allow customers to access account information from their online banking portal or a hotel might provide a kiosk to allow a customer to manage their stay or account information.
In addition, the U.S. government Section 508 standards may also be used to guide interface development. Specifically, these standards may apply to government related kiosk machines. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) contains standards for physical design considerations that may be useful in determining the physical requirements of a kiosk machine.
In addition to the broadly applied standards such as WCAG 2.0 and the ADA, specific industries may adopt or create specific standards unique to their environment. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation created the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) which provides requirements around the accessibility of airline industry technologies. The ACAA identifies specific standards on how and when their kiosks should be made accessible. Other industries may wish to use standards such as the ACAA as a starting place when developing their own regulations or standards.
Most Kiosks are considered stand alone or closed system, meaning users won’t have the flexibility to use personal assistive technology to access or interact with content or elements. This requires vendors to consider the needs of individual with varying abilities.
Unlike WCAG and Section 508, which provide precise guidelines and technical specifications related to accessibility, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) has taken a different approach with performance based objectives, more like the functional requirements in Section 508.
These objectives ensure a wide variety of user needs are built into these closed systems.
Generally – Manufacturers and service providers shall ensure that equipment and services covered by this part are accessible, usable, and compatible as those terms are defined in paragraphs (b) through (d) of this section.
Accessible – The term accessible shall mean that:
Input, control, and mechanical functions shall be locatable, identifiable, and operable in accordance with each of the following, assessed independently:
Operable without vision. Provide at least one mode that does not require user vision.
Operable with low vision and limited or no hearing. Provide at least one mode that permits operation by users with visual acuity between 20/70 and 20/200, without relying on audio output.
Operable with little or no color perception. Provide at least one mode that does not require user color perception.
Operable without hearing. Provide at least one mode that does not require user auditory perception.
Operable with limited manual dexterity. Provide at least one mode that does not require user fine motor control or simultaneous actions.
Operable with limited reach and strength. Provide at least one mode that is operable with user limited reach and strength.
Operable with a Prosthetic Device. Controls shall be operable without requiring body contact or close body proximity.
Operable without time dependent controls. Provide at least one mode that does not require a response time or allows response time to be by passed or adjusted by the user over a wide range.
Operable without speech. Provide at least one mode that does not require user speech.
Operable with limited cognitive skills. Provide at least one mode that minimizes the cognitive, memory, language, and learning skills required of the user.
Kiosk Considerations when making kiosks accessible
Are all controls on the kiosk tactilely distinguishable? For example, is it possible to identify the audio headphone jack by touch or by a tactile symbol?
Do controls have braille or large print labels? While putting braille labels on all keys on a standard QWERTY keyboard may not be necessary, it may be important to label special function keys or controls that are not standard on a traditional keyboard.
Is the height and spacing of the screen and controls appropriate for different types of users? An individual in a wheel chair may be viewing the screen from a lower angle than someone who is standing up.
Is there sufficient physical clearance around the machine for users with assistive mobility devices? A person in a wheelchair, scooter, or other mobility device may need more room to maneuver when approaching or leaving the machine.
Kiosk Interface design
What types of controls are needed to use the interface? For example, is a physical keyboard needed along with a touch screen in order for someone to enter text? Should a mouse, track ball, or touch pad device be present if a pointer is needed to use the interface? A person with a motor skills challenge may find it difficult to move their hand around a touch screen but may have no trouble using a track ball or touch pad pointer.
Can the visual presentation of the interface be customized? For example, can someone with a visual impairment zoom in or out to change the size of the onscreen font? Can someone who is color blind determine the functionality of controls by a method other than color alone?
Does the interface provide speech output? For someone who is blind or low vision, speech output (text-to-speech) may be the only way they can interact with the device. Does the text-to-speech function activate when headphones are inserted into the jack? If not, is there a clearly communicated way such as a braille sign for the user to know how to activate the text-to-speech function?
Does the interface reset to a standard configuration after each person uses it? The interface should always return to a default state after each user completes their tasks.
Accessible Kiosk Conclusion
In addition to the considerations listed above, it is important to ensure that the kiosk design is tested by people with various types of disabilities. This may include testing at various stages during the design and development process but at a minimum, user testing should be done once the design is complete. In addition, it will also be important to ensure that staff who may assist people using the kiosk understand what accessibility features are present and how to help someone use them. An accessibility feature is only as good as a person’s ability to use it and their knowledge that it exists in the first place. Staff may also wish to periodically test the accessibility features to verify they are always working as expected.
An accessible and well-designed kiosk machine can provide an efficient and independent experience for all users. As with all things related to accessibility, it is important to consider an accessible design from the very beginning. It is generally much more costly and inefficient to add accessibility after a product has been developed or is already in use.
Learn more about the state of kiosk accessibility requirements and what can be done to address by registering for our 60 minute webinar scheduled for November 28th at noon ET.
Good article on Title III and how attended kiosks and unattended kiosks can be affected differently. The article starts however with referring to “spate of suits” but doesn’t identify those suits. At one point vending machines dispensing drinks is referenced. Those are meant for unattended use however customers can always request assistance. Does that fulfill DOJ requirements?
Sometimes having an employee assist the customer can serve as opportunity for the employee to take advantage of the disabled (typically blind) customer.
Reasonable accommodation effort would seem to be called for in these situations. Having a POS terminal that allows for a headphone would make it possible for a blind person to materially verify the desired assistance was the actual assistance rendered.
A recent spate of suits against several major retailers has raised questions about whether self-service checkouts and other kiosks must comply with the requirements of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Generally, Title III requires that places of public accommodation be equally accessible to all individuals, regardless of physical limitations. In these suits Plaintiffs, who are blind, allege that the retailers’ self-service checkouts or kiosks are inaccessible to blind and visually impaired individuals and, therefore, violate the ADA. Businesses, in turn, have countered that the provision of staffed registers and kiosks through which blind customers can complete purchases with the aid of store personnel satisfies their obligations under the ADA. As an ever-increasing number of businesses turn to self-service kiosks for all manner of customer interactions, the degree to which these kiosks must be accessible to disabled users presents an important issue.
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1 28 C.F.R. § 36.303(c)(1).
2 28 C.F.R. § 36.303(b)(2).
3 See sections 707 and 811 of the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design set forth at 28 C.F.R. Part 36, Subpart D (2011) and 36 C.F.R. Part 1191, Appendices B and D (2009).
4 See West v. Moe’s Franchisor, LLC, No. 15-CV-2846, 2015 WL 8484567, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 9, 2015); West et al v. Five Guys Enterprises., LLC, No. 1:15-CV-02845, 2016 WL 482981 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 5, 2016).
I get pinged a lot by people asking for accessibility resources. Some accessibility resources are easy to find because they contain the words “assistive technology” or “WCAG”. But some of the most important accessibility resources don’t contain the magic buzz phrases. They just contain amazing content that leave you with a dopamine brain rush at the end of the video thinking “aha, I finally get it !”
Whether you’ve been in accessibility for a decade, or just getting started, the videos I have listed below, I think, are are always good reminders of why you are there. There are way more than 10 good accessibility/disability videos out there, these are my favorites, feel free to add yours in the comments section.
The late (but very great) Stella Young’s “I am not your inspiration, thank you very much” TED talk.
Stella was unapologetic, in your face, and everything that I wish I could have been when I was too shy (yes even while in law school) to say “this is who I am, effing deal with it” She had the audacity to say out loud what most people with major, visible disabilities only whispered to their friends and family — that it should not be the job of someone with a disability to make a non-disabled person feel better about themselves.
And I want the following quote in my obituary:
No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. Never.
Smiling at a television screen isn’t going to make closed captions appear for people who are deaf.
No amount of standing in the middle of a bookshop and radiating a positive attitude is going to turn all those books into braille. It’s just not going to happen.
This. This is why I fight. Thank you Stella for giving me the phrase “inspiration porn” to use in my fight.
2. The Apple/Sady video
I include this video in every . single . “introduction to accessibility” or unconscious bias class I ever teach. And I stop in the middle — where the person is programming their hearing aids to connect with their iPhone — and talk about my daughter, and how without Bluetooth and digital hearing aid technology, she wouldn’t be able to communicate by phone with anyone, understand classes in enormous lecture halls, or speak Chinese with her family or patients.
At Accessibility Scotland 2018, Phil Day of NCR deep dives the accessibility challenges and opportunities building self-service technology at NCR, one of the world’s largest providers of self-service technology.
Phil Day is a member of the KMA ADA Accessibility and ADA Working Group and contributed very much to the recent ADA guidelines produced by the KMA.
Accessibility Scotland history
Accessibility Scotland came about as a way to fill an obvious gap – there wasn’t an annual get-together in Scotland that was focused on digital accessibility.
So Kevin, Wojtek, Peter, and Dave started the first conference in 2016, held at Summerhall in Edinburgh’s south side. Things went so well that we decided to do a second conference in 2017, in a new venue near Haymarket Station. Our third conference was in November 2018 in Edinburgh’s EICC (Edinburgh International Conference Centre), where we increased the delegate capacity by 150%. Every year we sold out, and we received enough encouragement that we’re here again planning to do it again in 2019!
NRF is the largest retail exposition in the world and we will be there. KMA will be in booth 1703. We’ll represent over 50 companies from across the world.
Attendees present at the show include: Frank Olea CEO of Olea Kiosks, Jim Kruper CEO of KioWare, Josef Schneider and Frieder Hansen (CEO) of Pyramid, Randy Amundson (KMA ADA Chairperson) and David Anzia, SVP of Sales at Frank Mayer and Associates, Inc. Matt Ater CEO of Vispero and Laura Miller Anthony Palchek of Zebra and representatives for Verifone. Additionally at the show, around the corner from our booth will be Peter Jarvis Managing Director of Storm Interface and our new ADA and Accessibility Co-Chairperson.
For inquiries and meeting times, please contact craig@catareno.com or stop by# 1703.
The KMA booth will have two kiosks in it both oriented for QSR and both with integrated accessibility.
Pyramid will show the PE-4000 with QSR Self-Ordering. It will also be equipped with accessibility devices and will be using JAWS Kiosk Windows software from Vispero with KioWare.
The KMA is putting together a committee to produce a Code of Practice regarding EMV in Self-Service. This includes attended, unattended and “semi-attended”.
EMV COMMITTEE
UCP Unattended Payments
DCAP Systems
Ingenico
Self Service Networks
Olea Kiosks
EMV PARTICIPANTS
If you wish to participate in some capacity with our EMV Initiative please contact one of our sponsors on the EMV Committee or send an email to craig@kma.global
2020 marks the 30th anniversary of President George H.W. Bush signing the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Throughout this 30th anniversary year, the Division is publishing a monthly blog post highlighting the impact that recent ADA enforcement efforts have made in people’s everyday lives. We celebrate the many ways in which the ADA has transformed American society and enabled a generation of Americans with disabilities to thrive.
Mary Queen is a mother, a wife, a daughter, a teacher, a community volunteer worker, and a decorated paramedic, among other things. She has taught first aide to a Girl Scouts troop, spent time volunteering in a nursing home, and received multiple commendations for saving people’s lives in her work as a paramedic. In 2013, Ms. Queen was nominated as the sole representative from her region for Georgia Paramedic of the Year, having been selected from among hundreds of paramedics and EMTs in her region. Georgia Paramedic of the Year is awarded annually to a paramedic or EMT who has made significant contributions to emergency medical services and gone above-and-beyond the call of duty. Ms. Queen was a runner-up for the statewide award.
From her own telling of it, Ms. Queen did all of this not in spite of her multiple sclerosis (MS), but because of it. In January 2011, while sitting at the fire station waiting for the next emergency call to come in, Ms. Queen got a call from her neurologist telling her she has MS. She was 25-years-old. “Every day since has been a struggle and a fight,” says Ms. Queen. She is quick to add, “My MS has become my inspiration and the reason I get up every morning to help others.”
From 2009-2012, in addition to working as a full-time paramedic, Ms. Queen worked evening shifts as a part-time EMT lab assistant at Lanier Technical College, a unit of the Technical College System of Georgia. She loved teaching and hoped to someday become a full-time instructor. One former colleague described Ms. Queen as a “superstar” lab assistant whom “students loved.” But after Ms. Queen took three days of sick leave due to her MS, the college removed her from the teaching schedule for an entire school semester, thus reducing her hours and pay to zero. As alleged by the Justice Department in a complaint filed in federal district court in November 2019, the college’s actions effectively terminated Ms. Queen’s employment on the basis of her disability, in violation of Title I of the ADA.
Ms. Queen acknowledges that she has been through a lot of challenges in her life. She discusses most of them very matter-of-factly. But she still tears up when she discusses her termination from Lanier, and her phone call with her program director and former instructor in which he made her feel incompetent because of her disability.
The LIRR’s Glen Head station is the primary to host the brand new “Help Point” kiosk function, which assists riders with special wants in getting the eye of railroad personnel on an arriving practice.
Access to websites is essential in today’s digital environment for obtaining information, downloading data, sharing media, obtaining goods and services, and making other transactions. Many websites, however, remain off-limits to people with disabilities, particularly those with sensory impairments, because they are not structured and coded properly for accessibility. The U.S. Access Board, which maintains accessibility standards for information and communication technology in the federal sector under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, is conducting free webinars in September on how to evaluate websites for accessibility.
2020 marks the 30th anniversary of President George H.W. Bush signing the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Throughout this 30th anniversary year, the Division is publishing a monthly blog post highlighting the impact that recent ADA enforcement efforts have made in people’s everyday lives. We celebrate the many ways in which the ADA has transformed American society and enabled a generation of Americans with disabilities to thrive.