Websites Must be Accessible to the Blind

A website not accessible to the blind may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since violations of the ADA are not limited to brick and mortar facilities, a federal court in San Francisco has ruled.

The court found that a complaint filed by the National Federation of the Blind was sufficient to state a cause of action against Target Corporation for violating the ADA. The complaint alleged that Target.com lacks features to make it accessible to the blind.

Target asked that the case be dismissed, arguing that the ADA does not apply on the Internet but only to physical facilities. The ADA prohibits discrimination against the disabled in places of public accommodation. The court found that the ADA departs from other anti-discrimination statutes in that it requires parties to take affirmative steps to accommodate the disabled. Target argued that the ADA prohibits discrimination occurring only on the premises of a place of public accommodation. The court disagreed.

“The statute applies to the services of a place of public accommodation, not services in a place of public accommodation. To limit the ADA to discrimination in the provision of services occurring on the premises of a public accommodation would contradict the plain language of the statute,” the court wrote. Because goods can be purchased on the Target.com website, “the challenged service here is heavily integrated with the brick-and-mortar stores and operates in many ways as a gateway to the stores,” the court said.

The company also argued that requiring it to make its site accessible under a California statute would improperly impinge on interstate commerce since the entire website would need to be reprogrammed. The court also rejected this argument. The court said Target could chose to make the website California specific, so the commerce clause is not involved.

National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation, N.D.CA. No. C06-01802, slip opinion issued September 6, 2006.