Lawsuit: Rothman’s Website Denies Access to Blind Users

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Giddon Enterprises, Inc. is the defendant in a proposed class action alleging the website for its Rothman’s men’s clothing stores discriminates against blind internet users. The plaintiff, a blind New York man, claims he attempted to visit RothmansNY.com but was met with several barriers that limited his access to the site’s goods and services. According to the suit, the obstacles, of which the case claims there are "thousands," include the following:

• lack of alt-text on graphics;
• inaccessible drop-down menus;
• lack of navigation links;
• lack of adequate prompting and labeling;
• denial of keyboard access;
• empty links that contain no text;
• redundant links where adjacent links go to the same URL address; and
• the requirement that transactions be performed solely with a mouse.

The website is incompatible with the plaintiff’s screen-reading technology as a result of the above shortcomings, the suit says, and limited the man from learning about and purchasing Rothman’s products, as well as finding information about the stores’ locations and hours of operation.