My 91 year old father Saul Feingold (pictured here) is a role model of aging. He looks forward and not backward. He has no regret for what he can no longer do and is thrilled with what he can. He’s lucky and he knows it. When I asked my dad how old he was when he gave up golf he said he never gave up the game he’d been playing since 1957, he just stopped. Didn’t feel bad, doesn’t miss it, just stopped. It was time and he accepted it. My dad is enthusiastic about things large and small and exudes optimism. He keeps up with the news, sports, and finance. Most astonishing, after working 67 years ..read more

On September 4, 2020, AudioEye, Inc. sued accessiBe, Ltd for patent infringement. The lawsuit between these two very well-funded digital accessibility companies was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas and reported in Justia Dockets and Filings. Read the September 4, 2020 complaint in AudioEye v. accessiBe. (An amended complaint was filed 3 days later). If you’re not familiar with accessiBe, I wrote about that company and others like it in my post titled Honor the ADA, Avoid Web Accessibility Quick Fix Overlays. The Complaint says that accessiBe has inf ..read more

Today is the first time I had to update an article before I posted it. The original article, which you’ll find below, is about a planned session at the Zero Project accessibility conference (#ZeroCon) in February. The session was organized by a member of the German chapter of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP). As the title says, learning about this panel “hurt my heart.” Just as I was about to press “publish” (literally – in the same minute) I got word that the session will likely be withdrawn. That makes me happy and very grateful to IAAP for quick and strong ..read more

When I submitted my book manuscript to the American Bar Association in 2015, an East Coast lawyer reviewer had but one question. It basically boiled down to this: “How the hell do I find clients who want to resolve legal claims without fighting? With collaboration, calmness, and kindness instead of conflict?” My answer was and remains simple: Structured Negotiation attracts problem-solvers who value cooperation and relationship-building. As a disability rights and digital accessibility strategy it attracts disabled people committed to lasting accessibility and full inclusion of people with dis ..read more

This post originally shared four developments in the legal space about web accessibility overlays. Three are very troubling. One gives hope for stemming the tide of quick-fix “not-solutions” that can actually make websites less usable by people with disabilities. Updates add new content to the original four developments. New to the overlay issue? I first wrote about significant problems with web accessibility overlays in an August, 2020 article on this website titled Honor the ADA: Avoid Web Accessibility Quick-Fix Overlays. There is now a sizable collection of articles and videos explaining w ..read more

The disability community lost a tremendous advocate when Andrés Gallegos died on December 1st, a few days shy of his 63rd birthday. Along with hundreds (and based on the outpouring since he died maybe thousands) of people across the United States, I lost a close colleague and friend. I write this article to honor his memory. share on mastodon Who was Andrés Gallegos? Andrés, who became a quadriplegic in 1996, was a disability rights lawyer, national disability community leader, mentor, friend, husband, father, and grandfather with a (very) long list of accomplishments to his name. I invite rea ..read more

Since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 I have been reluctant to post on social media. How can I share a picture of my wonderful visit to Google NYC with my 90 year old dad when 1,400 people were brutally murdered and 200+ kidnapped on the worst day in Jewish history since the Holocaust? Should I be letting people know about my final 2023 talks when innocent civilians in Gaza, including thousands of children, have been killed by Israeli bombs? I feel like everything I write needs an asterisk. This post is it. I am Jewish. For my entire adult life I’ve identified as a progres ..read more

On October 11, 2023, the AVID program at Disability Rights Washington (DRW) issued a press release with the headline “DRW Reaches Agreement With Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC) To Improve Care For Transgender People With Disabilities.” The Parties used Structured Negotiation to achieve this important result for the rights of incarcerated transgender people, including those with disabilities. Signing a Structured Negotiation agreement to negotiate in good faith was important from the beginning to establish trust, and I believe it helped keep the parties at the table as we work ..read more

On Wednesday October 4 the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case about who can file a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The case is called Acheson Hotels vs. Deborah Laufer. Ms. Laufer is a disabled woman. She uses a wheelchair and has a vision impairment and limited use of her hands. She sued because when she visited the Acheson Hotels website she found it was in violation of a part of the ADA that requires hotels to post online information about its hotel rooms’ accessibility features. This information is essential to disabled travelers across the United ..read more

On Wednesday October 4 the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case about who can file a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The case is called Acheson Hotels vs. Deborah Laufer. Ms. Laufer is a disabled woman. She uses a wheelchair and has a vision impairment and limited use of her hands. She sued because when she visited the Acheson Hotels website she found it was in violation of a part of the ADA that requires hotels to post online information about its hotel rooms’ accessibility features. This information is essential to disabled travelers across the United ..read more