A visually-impaired and legally blind woman has filed a lawsuit against Apple, Inc. in federal court in New York, alleging that Apple’s website is not accessible and is therefore in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Himelda Mendez claims that she tried to use the website with her screen reader but was unable to fully access the functions and features of the site. Specifically, Mendez alleges that the following constitute ADA violations:

  • Lack of alternative text (“alt-text”) or a text equivalent coded to each image so that screen-reading software can speak the alt-text where a sighted user sees the image;
  • Empty links that contain no text causing the function of the link to not be presented to a user; and
  • Redundant links where adjacent links go to the same URL address.

In addition to the ADA, Mendez alleges that the deficiencies also constitute violation of human rights laws of New York State and New York City. The Mendez complaint is available here.

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