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Disability Rights Advocates

Industry Leading HR and Payroll Company ADP Works with LightHouse to Enhance Accessibility of Products to Blind Users

01/05/2022 LightHouse Staff

The LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired of San Francisco and blind LightHouse staff members reached an agreement with the Professional Employer Organization ADP TotalSource® to enhance the accessibility and usability of the ADP Workforce Now® solution to LightHouse staff who are blind or have low vision and use screen-reading software to access digital content.

LightHouse, a 120-year-old nonprofit which supports and promotes the independence, equality, and self-reliance of people who are blind or have low vision in northern California, uses ADP TotalSource products for its human resources and payroll needs.

ADP is working with a leading web accessibility expert to help enhance the accessibility of its Workforce Now solution for the blind or those who have low vision. The group will audit the ADP Workforce Now web and mobile applications to help ensure they conform to the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), version 2.1, Level AA.

ADP is also rolling out an enhanced policy that reaffirms its commitment to accessibility and outlines its procedures for incorporating accessibility into the development and testing lifecycle for its solutions. ADP will also provide enhanced training to ADP TotalSource associates to ensure a deeper level of service that will help them provide greater technical assistance to individuals who use screen readers to access ADP Workforce Now.

LightHouse’s CEO, Bryan Bashin, said, “This agreement is a major commitment by ADP TotalSource to building an accessible workplace environment for LightHouse’s blind employees, managers and executives to participate efficiently alongside their sighted peers. We expect that this commitment represents an important step towards bringing an accessible workplace environment to any blind employee in the vast workforce ADP TotalSource serves.”

“I am pleased that this work will result in my having greater access to essential human resources and payroll functionality, and I am excited that many other blind and visually impaired users of ADP’s services will also benefit from these changes,” said Frank Welte, Senior Accessible Media and Braille Specialist at LightHouse.

“We are delighted that ADP has committed to the on-going accessibility of its products, through the implementation of an Accessibility Policy that will incorporate accessibility into development and testing of its products,” said DRA Senior Staff Attorney Meredith Weaver.

“At ADP we highly value digital inclusion and are committed to ensuring our solutions are accessible to our clients and their employees, including those who are blind or visually impaired. We have taken substantial measures to provide quality user experiences and we will continue to evolve our solutions to meet digital access needs,” said Bob Lockett, Chief Diversity and Talent Officer, ADP.

About LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired of San Francisco

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired provides education, training, advocacy, and community for blind individuals in California and around the world. Founded and based in San Francisco since 1902, the LightHouse is one of the largest and most established comprehensive blindness organizations in North America, with a wide variety of programs to suit a wide variety of needs, as well as a rich network of blindness advocates and professionals. Visit www.lighthouse-sf.org for more information.

About Disability Rights Advocates

DRA is one of the leading non-profit disability rights legal centers in the nation. With offices in Berkeley and New York City, DRA’s mission is to advance equal rights and opportunities for people with all types of disabilities nationwide. To advance that mission, DRA regularly advocates for greater access to modern technology. DRA has negotiated access improvements to several types of popular technologies including audio described content on HBO Max. For more information, visit www.dralegal.org.

About ADP

Designing better ways to work through cutting-edge products, premium services and exceptional experiences that enable people to reach their full potential. HR, Talent, Time Management, Benefits and Payroll. Informed by data and designed for people. Learn more at ADP.com

LightHouse News

San Francisco’s Aquatic Park and Pier Wants Your Input

07/14/2021 LightHouse Staff 1 Comment

San Francisco’s scenic and historic waterfront is revamping the space and creating a new community-led project entitled the Aquatic Park and Pier Project. The Maritime National Park Association is working towards realizing this area’s full potential and creating a beautiful and safe recreation area for families and visitors of San Francisco for generations to come, but they need the community’s help.

Last week our Media and Accessible Design Laboratory (MAD Lab) director, Greg Kehret, represented the LightHouse at a discussion attended by several people in the disability rights community. The group discussed the renovation of Aquatic Park and Pier in San Francisco. Those in the disability rights community are concerned with getting input from people with disabilities to ensure the park is inclusive and accessible to all park goers. They have shared a link to a survey, Aquatic Park and Pier Vision Study, and are encouraging the community to provide feedback on the details of the project and desired park features and, as well as general concerns.

The results of this survey, along with an upcoming Visioning Session on August 11, at 6:00 pm will be compiled into a report given to the National Park Service for their consideration. The visioning session is open to the public, so all are welcome to attend. For more information about the Aquatic Park and Pier Project, including getting involved, providing feedback, or volunteering you can visit the website link.

And, of course, if you know of a local park, public space or other large venue whose accessible design could benefit from the tactile maps and input provided by Lighthouse’s MAD Lab, feel free to contact them at madlab@lighthouse-sf.org or by visiting our website.

LightHouse News

Does Your Credit Union Work For You?

11/18/2015 LightHouse Staff

photo of a credit card on a laptop keyboard

There are certain things today that we take for granted — like the fact that a blind person can (and should) have independent access to their banking. Having control over your own funds, potentially one of the most important aspects of living an independent life, wasn’t a given for blind folks until the ’90s, when attorneys representing the disabled prevailed in a tireless process of education and negotiation to ensure that ATMs would work for the blind.

Today, there are still strides to be made. The web is always evolving, and often when a change is made, a site is redesigned, or an app is updated, access for the disabled is not part of the conversation. With most large national banks now complying with accessibility law, the Bay Area-based Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) is turning its attention to Credit Unions. DRA is interested in learning about screen reader users’ experiences in selecting and joining, and using a credit union.

DRA seeks adult plaintiffs who live, work or attend school in San Francisco or San Mateo Counties. You must be a screen reader user and have interest in locating, joining, or switching credit unions. You may not be a member of more than two credit unions already. If you meet these conditions, please contact Meredith Weaver at DRA by phone (510) 665-8644 or email mweaver@dralegal.org.

Blog Bits, LightHouse News

Does Your Movie Theater Offer Audio Description?

09/23/2015 LightHouse Staff

Movie theaters around the country are increasingly under a legal mandate to accommodate blind and visually impaired customers. For the most part, that means providing audio descriptions for films that blind moviegoers can use to hear a visual description of the film. But for various reasons, these services aren’t always available. Here in the Bay Area, a local group of disability rights attorneys are investigating audio descriptions at AMC theaters, and need your feedback.

The announcement is below:

Disability Rights Advocates and Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld are investigating complaints from blind individuals who have been unable to use audio description services at American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (“AMC”) movie theaters. We are interested in speaking with legally blind individuals who have encountered problems when attempting to use audio description services at AMC theaters in California.

Audio description refers to recorded audio that provides synchronized descriptions of a movie’s key visual details during natural pauses in dialog during the movie. Many popular films are released with the audio description feature. Movie theaters provide access to audio description by issuing upon request wireless handsets and headphones that play the audio description track during the movie. This configuration allows blind customers to listen to both the dialog and sound effects in a movie and descriptions of the visual aspects of the film.

If you are legally blind and you have been unable to access audio description services at AMC theaters in California because the audio description equipment was malfunctioning, because AMC staff did not know how to configure the audio description equipment, or for any other reason, we would appreciate speaking with you about your experiences. To share these with us, please contact Charlotte Landes by phone at (415) 433-6830 or by e-mail at Clandes@rbgg.com.