A ruling by the US supreme court this month against Domino’s has highlighted the need for companies to ensure their websites and mobile apps comply with a range of accessibility standards to ensure they can be used by customers with disabilities. The Supreme Court denied a petition from the pizza company to hear its arguments to overturn a lower court decision against Domino’s. The decision represents a victory for campaigners who say that the American with Disabilities Act, which insists on access to public spaces, must also apply to websites and mobile apps.
The case against Domino’s was first brought by Guillermo Robles who is blind and who sued the pizza chain after he was unable to order food on its website and mobile app, even though he was using screen-reading software. Domino’s argued – unsuccessfully – that disabilities legislation introduced in 1990 was not designed to include online access.
Financial firms have also been sued on a similar basis, with claims brought against Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo in the past, for example. And so the Supreme Court’s move to decline a hearing for Domino’s has sent a warning to thousands of financial firms whose online services are argued by campaigners to be “places of public accommodation”, as the Supreme Court described Domino’s online pizza delivery service in its ruling.
Accessibility testing is the focus of a leadership seminar event hosted by QA Financial and Deque Systems, the Chicago-based accessibility testing specialist, on November 12th, in New York City. At the seminar, experts from US Bank, USAA and Wells Fargo experts will be discussing what steps they have taken to protect themselves, and QA Financial’s research team will be sharing the results of our own research into the challenges, and the benefits of effective accessibility testing.
If you have a responsibility for accessibility testing and would like to attend the November 12th seminar – which will be held at the Sofitel Hotel, W44th Street – please contact william.worthington@qa-financial.com
