Target Makes Website Accessible to the Blind

Target will modify its website so it is accessible to the blind and will pay $6 million to settle a class action lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In agreeing to make the changes to the website and to set aside $6 million for claims in the case, Target did not admit any liability. The parties to the class action lawsuit established “online Assistive Technology Guidelines” that Target must meet so that blind guests to the website “may acquire the same information and engage in the same transactions as are available to sighted guests with substantially equivalent ease of use.”

The case was filed by the National Federation of the Blind in February 2006 in California. The court certified the suit as a class action that consisted of all legally blind individuals in the United States who had attempted to access Target.com and as a result were denied access to the enjoyment of goods and services offered in Target stores. The case was first reported on this website in September 2006 when the court found that the Americans with Disabilities Act was not limited to bricks and mortar facilities but also applied to websites.

National Federation of the Blind et al. v. Target Corporation, Northern Dist. Calif., Case No. C 06-01802 MHP,