NFB OF PENNSYLVANIA AND BLIND STATE EMPLOYEES SUE COMMONWEALTH, GOVERNOR

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Patricia A. Maurer
Director of Community Relations
National Federation of the Blind
[log in to unmask]
(410) 659-9314, ext. 272

Betsy Zaborowski
Director of Special Programs
[log in to unmask]
410-659-9314, ext. 357

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NFB OF PENNSYLVANIA AND BLIND STATE EMPLOYEES
SUE COMMONWEALTH, GOVERNOR

PHILADELPHIA, PA (February 27, 2003)-Three blind, Pennsylvania state
employees and the National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania
(NFBP) filed suit today against the state and its Governor, Edward Rendell, asserting that the state's multi-million-dollar computer system upgrade for use by all state employees is inaccessible to blind employees and, therefore, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

James Antonacci, Celia Fagnani, and Sue Davis, each of whom works for the Pennsylvania state government, contend that blind workers cannot access information previously available. Blind employees can now only examine their payroll information by permitting sighted individuals access to what would otherwise Be private and confidential.

In 2001 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
entered into a contract with SAP Public Sector & Education, Inc. for the purchase of a new statewide computer system. These computer packages typically include accounting, budgeting, payroll, personnel, and purchasing. The contract to design and implement the computer system over a three-year period was

for more than $40 million and is dubbed Imagine PA.

"People who are blind can and do regularly operate computers, using screen access software that converts computer text into synthesized speech or Braille," says Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), a consumer-based organization representing more than 50,000 blind Persons throughout the United States.

"Unfortunately, in choosing software that is incompatible with screen access programs, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has failed to remove significant communications barriers, denying blind employees independent access to the state's information system and ultimately undermining the ability of blind individuals to do their jobs, all of which are in violation of the ADA," Dr. Maurer

explains.

Two years ago, the Arkansas Administrative Statewide Information System (AASIS) ran into similar access problems for blind employees. The chief contractor

for that conversion was also SAP Public Sector and Education, Inc. Two blind Arkansas state employees filed a lawsuit at that time, which was intended to prevent further use of the SAP system without the necessary access modifications.

When Imagine PA becomes effective all Pennsylvania state employees will keep time and attendance information using the computer system. Employees will track expense vouchers and a host of other functions, including budgeting, accounting, and procurement on the new system, all of which will be inaccessible to the state's blind employees.

The Imagine PA project is being implemented in "waves." To date, a number of agencies have begun using the new setup with additional agencies scheduled to implement Imagine PA over the next several months.

Training has already been conducted for the Imagine PA system. Neither the plaintiffs nor any other blind employees of the Commonwealth have been able to

sign up for or participate in the training sessions because they are
inaccessible.

Attorney Daniel Goldstein, a partner with the firm of Brown, Goldstein & Levy that represents both the NFB of Pennsylvania and the plaintiffs in this suit, notes that in the technology arena, discrimination against blind people "often begins with the blind being overlooked, follows with them being told to wait, and ends with them being told that, while it would have been inexpensive to make the system accessible in the first place, it is now far too expensive

to fix and that they must wait until the next edition of the software."

Mr. Goldstein adds, "This suit is intended to try to change that  pattern."

If successful, the suit will prohibit the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from widening the use of the SAP system until it has been made accessible to all potential users, including the blind.

The National Federation of the Blind, with more than 50,000 members and 700 local and state affiliates and chapters, is the largest and most influential membership organization of blind people in the United States. As a consumer

and advocacy organization, NFB is the leading force in the blindness field today and the voice of the nation's blind.
Posted: February 28, 2003