ADA

The US government is suing Post Properties (PPS: 28.68 ,0.00 ,0.00%) for allegedly failing to provide accessible features required by federal law at some multifamily housing developments in six states.

The US Justice Department said Post Properties constructed and developed at least 19 multifamily apartment complexes in Georgia, Texas, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia without accessible routes leading into and through buildings.

A newly formed political fund-raising group supporting disability-friendly candidates is taking aim at Rand Paul, a Senate candidate from Kentucky who publicly
questioned the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Disability Power & Pride Political Action Committee, or PAC, is planning an event later this month to raise cash for Paul’s opponent, Jack Conway, a
Democrat.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) is a civil rights law enacted by the US Congress. Signed into law in July 26, 1990 by President George H. W. Bush, the ADA prohibits, under specific circumstances, discrimination based on disability.

The ADA aims to help the country benefit from the skills and talents of persons with disabilities, allow all Americans to gain from the increased purchasing power of persons with disabilities, and advocate more productive lives for everyone.

This law was amended in 2008 (ADA Amendments Act of 2008). The changes took effect on January 1, 2009.

The Department of Justice (Department) is considering revising the regulations implementing title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA or Act)
in order to establish requirements for making the goods, services, facilities, privileges, accommodations, or advantages offered by public accommodations
via the Internet, specifically at sites on the World Wide Web (Web), accessible to individuals with disabilities. The Department is also considering revising
the ADA´s title II regulation to establish requirements for making the services, programs, or activities offered by State and local governments to the
public via the Web accessible. The Department is issuing this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in order to solicit public comment on various
issues relating to the potential application of such requirements and to obtain background information for the regulatory assessment the Department must
prepare if it were to adopt requirements that are economically significant according to Executive Order 12866.

W3C has released Unicorn
, a one-stop tool to help people improve the quality of their Web pages. Unicorn combines four popular tools, including the Markup validator, CSS validator,
mobileOk checker, and Feed validator, with a single interface. This means you can check a Web page with a visit to one url instead of four. Unicorn allows
you to choose all four validation checks at once, or any one of the four individual checks as needed.

Unicorn allows the same three ways to validate your Web site as the individual tools, i.e. you can submit a url to the page to be tested, upload the files,
or enter (cut-and-paste) the code directly into a text box.

Barack Obama's administration has announced plans to ensure people with disabilities get better access to retails and hospitality focused websites, in addition to ensuring better access to physical premises such as cinemas.

Most of the proposals are aimed primarily at improved access for the those with visual and hearing impairments.

The Justice Department will soon be seeking comment on four proposed rules to establish accessibility requirements for websites, movies, equipment and furniture,
and 911 call-taking technologies, Attorney General
Eric Holder said Wednesday at an event commemorating the 15th anniversary of the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Holder spoke as part of the Justice Department’s week honoring the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, known as the ADA. He pledged
“aggressive and appropriate” enforcement of the landmark disabilities law — both in communities and the department itself.

As e-book technology becomes more commonplace on college campuses, the U.S. Justice and Education departments raised concerns Tuesday that some
universities are using devices that don't meet accessibility standards set by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

"It is unacceptable for universities to use emerging technology without insisting that this technology be accessible to all students," the departments said
in a joint letter to college presidents.

Recently the US Senate held a congressional hearing on legislation to improve access to the Internet and other technologies for blind and deaf individuals. In the US House of Representatives, the Committee
on Energy and Commerce held a hearing on their version of this legislation called the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, by updating
the statutory provisions found in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act of 1988, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990,
the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Committee Chairman, Henry Waxman, said that that this hearing was ‘the first step in a process to ensure that Americans with disabilities can more fully
participate in our evolving Internet-based society.” Chairman Waxman stated that he wanted the hearing “to outline and clarify where agreement exists …
and where some adjustment may be necessary.”

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the nation’s oldest and largest organization of blind people, and three blind students who have applied or
are considering applying to law school in California-Deepa Goraya, Bruce J.
Sexton, and Claire Stanley-filed an amended lawsuit yesterday against the Law School Admissions Council and four California law schools for violating
provisions of the California Disabled Persons Act, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The suit was filed because the law schools require or encourage applicants to use a centralized Internet-based application process provided by the Law
School Admissions Council (LSAC) through its Web site (
www.lsac.org )
that is inaccessible to blind law school applicants. Blind students must
seek sighted assistance to use the LSAC system. Furthermore, blind law school applicants cannot perform other tasks on the LSAC Web site, such as
downloading official study materials for the Law School Admissions Test
(LSAT) that is required by almost all U.S. law schools.