Blind MBA challenges federal government over inaccessible jobs websites

 

Ground-breaking Charter of Rights case now before courts

 

Toronto - August 6, 2008 - Donna Jodhan had all the right qualifications for
the government jobs she wanted to apply for - an MBA from McGill
University's prestigious business school, high-level technical
certifications from Microsoft and Novell, and a strong risumi of relevant
private-sector postings at companies like IBM and Royal Bank.

 

There was just one catch: Jodhan, who has been blind since birth, found that
on-line application forms for the positions she wanted to apply for were not
accessible to visually impaired web surfers. No matter how hard she tried,
she couldn't even get in the government's virtual front door.

 

"I got so darn tired," says Jodhan, who lives in Scarborough, Ontario. "I
followed up and followed up, but nobody seemed interested in giving me the
help I needed. I'd had to push hard with the private sector too, but this
was on a whole different level."

 

With the help of Bakerlaw, a Toronto human-rights law firm, Jodhan has now
taken the matter to the courts, arguing that the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms guarantees blind and visually impaired Canadians the same access to
government websites as everyone else. The complainants are asking the
government to work with experts and visually impaired users to ensure that
crucial services like job application forms are accessible.

 

"Blind and visually impaired Canadians are shut out from crucial services
that everyone else can use," says David Baker, Jodhan's lead lawyer. "That
makes it an issue of discrimination under the Charter." When it comes to
employment, the need for fair access is particularly urgent - recent studies
report that the blind and visually impaired have an unemployment rate of
about 70%, and low per-capita incomes compared to both the population as a
whole and to other disabled groups.

 

"One of the tragic things here is that Canada used to be an exemplar when it
came to on-line accessibility," says Jutta Treviranus, director of the
University of Toronto's Adaptive Technology Resource Center, and an expert
on accessible technologies. Treviranus, who is acting as an advisor on the
case, says that the technical resources and strategies - web development
toolkits, templates, authoring tools, accessibility evaluation methods and
standards - are readily available and affordable.

 

"The real problem is the lack of a government-wide plan, a roadmap for
equitable access when it comes to interactive web technologies" she says. 

"Plus, there are only three people in the government's accessibility office,
which is responsible for supporting the accessibility of hundreds of
government websites across the country. When we approach them with requests,
they understandably say 'but we have so many websites, it's too much to
implement.' Clearly more resources are needed and accessibility must be
considered at all levels of information and communication technology
decision-making within the government."

 

Bakerlaw originally filed the Charter challenge in July of 2007. In
response, the government tried to have the case thrown out of court on
technical grounds, but that motion to strike was rejected by the court in
late June of this year, paving the way for the case to go forward. Unless
the government voluntarily agrees to make their websites accessible, the
case would likely move on to litigation later this month.

 

Regardless of what happens with the case in the immediate future, Jodhan and
her legal team remain focussed on the long term. "If we don't stand up and
make ourselves heard, the government will keep on dragging its feet," Jodhan
predicts. "We need to act now, to make things better for tomorrow's
generation."

 

 

Media Contacts

 

Donna Jodhan

[log in to unmask]

day: 416 491-7711

evening: 416 497-7306

 

David Baker

legal counsel

416-533-0040 x 222

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Jutta Treviranus

Director, Adaptive Technology Resource Center, University of Toronto
416-978-5240 [log in to unmask]

 

 

 

 

Eric Bridges

Director of Advocacy and Governmental Affairs

American Council of the Blind 

Phone: (202) 467-5081

Fax: (202) 467-5085

 


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