FEG Websites' Prevalent ‘Access Barriers’ Bar the Blind: ADA Suit

Family Entertainment Group (FEG), which operates physical game venues nationally under the brand name In the Game, also runs websites that “contain access barriers that prevent free and full use by blind and visually disabled individuals using keyboards and available screen reader software,” in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act, alleged a complaint Friday (docket 9:22-cv-81651) in U.S. District Court for Southern Florida in West Palm Beach. “These barriers are pervasive,” said the complaint. Plaintiff Nelson Fernandez of Palm Beach County suffers from optic neuritis and is visually disabled, with complete blindness in one eye and very limited vision in the other, it said. He attempted to locate an accessibility notice on one of the FEG websites “that would direct him to a webpage with contact information for disabled individuals,” but none existed, it said. Fernandez, as well as others who are blind and with visual disabilities, “will suffer continuous and ongoing harm” from FEG’s “intentional acts, omissions, policies, and practices” unless “properly enjoined” by the court, it said. The suit seeks a number of sanctions and remedies by a “date certain,” including an order requiring FEG “to provide ongoing support for web accessibility by implementing a website accessibility coordinator, a website application accessibility policy, and providing for website accessibility feedback to ensure compliance” with the ADA. FEG didn’t respond to queries seeking comment.