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Harvard University website class action
- Who: A woman who is legally blind is suing Harvard University.
- Why: The plaintiff says Harvard does not make its website accessible to the blind.
- Where: The Harvard class action lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court.
Harvard University failed to design its website so that it would be fully accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals, a new class action lawsuit alleges.
Plaintiff Milagros Senior filed the class action lawsuit against Harvard University Oct. 7 in a New York federal court, alleging violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
Senior is a legally blind person who uses a screen reader to browse website content.
According to her lawsuit, Harvard has failed to design and operate its websites—harvard.edu and gocrimson.com—to be fully accessible to her and other blind or visually-impaired persons.
“Defendant’s denial of full and equal access to its website, and therefore denial of its products and services offered thereby, is a violation of Plaintiff’s rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibiting discrimination against the blind,” she says.
Harvard website has multiple access barriers, lawsuit alleges
In September, Senior visited the websites in an attempt to purchase a product and to view the information.
However, Senior says she encountered multiple access barriers that denied her a shopping and recreational experience similar to that of a sighted person.
The barriers denied her the full enjoyment of the goods and services of the websites, as she was unable to purchase college and team merchandise such as T-shirts, sweat shirts, hats and other apparel, she says.
The barriers included lack of alt text, empty links, redundant links, linked images and broken links.
Senior is suing on behalf of a nationwide class of legally blind individuals who tried to access the Harvard website and were denied enjoyment of the website’s services.
She is suing under the ADA and The Rehabilitation Act, and seeking certification of the class action, damages, an injunction forcing the university to make its website accessible, fees, costs and a jury trial.
Colgate University has also been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging it failed to design its website so that it would be fully accessible to blind and visually impaired individuals.
What do you think of the allegations against Harvard University in this lawsuit? Let us know in the comments!
The plaintiff is represented by Michael A. LaBollita, Jeffrey M. Gottlieb and Dana L. Gottlieb of Gottlieb & Associates.
The Harvard University class action lawsuit is Milagros Senior v. Harvard University, Case No. 1:22-cv-08576 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
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