Law Office of Lainey Feingold
Disability Rights Legal Advocacy

RITE AID’S WEB SITE AND POINT OF SALE IMPROVEMENTS PRAISED BY BLIND COMMUNITY LEADERS

Camp Hill, PA (May 1, 2008)– In a move praised by state and national blindness organizations, Rite Aid (NYSE:RAD) today announced it has undertaken a nationwide initiative that will benefit Rite Aid customers with visual impairments and other disabilities. As part of the program, Rite Aid has made enhancements to its Web site and has begun installing new point of sale equipment with tactile keypads to protect the privacy and security of all shoppers who have difficulty entering numbers on a flat screen.

The Rite Aid Web Accessibility Agreement was negotiated by Lainey Feingold and co-counsel Linda Dardarian using Structured Negotiations on behalf of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and the California Council of the Blind (CCB). In this agreement, Rite Aid committed to upgrade its website to comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) promulgated by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium. The agreement specifically states that if there is a visual “Captcha” on the Rite Aid web site, there will also be an alternative security measure that is equally effective and usable by blind and visually-impaired users. At the time this web accessibility agreement was negotiated, these parties also negotiated a Rite Aid Point of Sale Agreement to ensure that devices in over 5,000 Rite Aid stores have tactile keypads so that a blind customer can independently enter his or her PIN.

The Rite Aid Point of Sale (POS) Agreement was negotiated by Lainey Feingold and co-counsel Linda Dardarian using Structured Negotiations on behalf of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), and the California Council of the Blind (CCB). In this agreement, Rite Aid has ensured that all of its 5000 stores across the United States will have tactile point of sale devices so that blind and visually impaired customers can independently enter their PIN and other confidential information. At the time this tactile point of sale agreement was negotiated, these parties also negotiated the Rite Aid Web Accessibility Agreement to ensure that riteaid.com is accessible to and usable by all customers in accordance with guidelines promulgated by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web consortium.

National Credit Reporting Companies, Blind Community, Announce Landmark Initiative to Provide Accessible Online Credit Reports

Braille and Other Formats also to be Made Available

Washington, D.C. (April 23, 2008) – The nation’s three major consumer credit reporting companies today unveiled a comprehensive program to provide improved access to important credit information for people who are blind or visually impaired. The initiative, crafted with the American Council of the Blind, its California affiliate and several individual members of the blind community, will help protect the credit information of individuals who cannot read a standard print credit report.

The accessible credit reports agreement was negotiated by Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian on behalf of the American Council of the Blind, the California Council of the Blind and blind individuals Paul Parravano, Lucy Greco and Lori Gray. In the Agreement, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion agreed to provide credit reports that are accessible to people who are blind and visually impaired. On-line reports will meet standards established by the Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium, and credit reports will be made available in Braille, Large Print, and on audio CD.

John Slatin was a well loved and highly respected accessibility advocate and University of Texas professor who died at the end of March after a courageous three year battle with leukemia. In John’s obituary in the Austin American-Statesman, one of John’s graduate students was quoted as saying “It was striking that even after blindness and leukemia, he was still happy.”

John’s kindness and contributions to the field of web accessibility have motivated John’s friends and colleagues to develop The John Slatin Fund Accessibility Project to match accessibility experts with firms and companies that would like a brief review of their site for accessibility. In return, the site owner is asked to contribute a minimum of $500 to The John Slatin Fund.