Thread by @LaurenWeberHP

INVESTIGATION: Covid vaccination registration websites at the federal, state and local levels violate disability rights laws, hindering the ability of blind people to sign up for lifesaving vaccine.

Even @CDCgov 's embattled VAMS system is inaccessible.

khn.org/news/article/c…

As @hannah_recht and I found:

🚨 In at least 7 states, blind residents were unable to register for the vaccine without help
🚨 94 covid info and vaccine pages from the states had accessibility issues @webaim found
🚨 Phone alternatives were not available or had too long of lines

When blind people use the internet, they have software called screen readers read the text aloud to them.

If websites are not programmed properly, the software cannot read them aloud -- leaving blind people unable to register for #COVID19 vaccines.

Bryan Bashin, a 65-year-old blind CEO in San Francisco, had appointments for vaccination slip away twice in the same day while he battled inaccessible websites.

"It’s an awful bit of discrimination, one as stinging as anything I’ve experienced,” Bashin said.

Those problems violate the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which established the right to communications in an accessible format, multiple legal experts and disability advocates said.

The federal Americans with Disabilities Act, a civil rights law that prohibits governments and private businesses from discriminating based on disability, further enshrined this protection in 1990.

Back in Dec., @NFB_voice @Riccobono wrote to @HHSGov , sharing his concerns for the vaccine rollout for the blind and citing previous #COVID19 inaccessibiity.

Then @CDCDirector Dr. Redfield assured him states and locals were being reminded of the accessibility laws for info.

But even the federal system is not compatible with screen readers, blind Americans across the U.S. told us.

Doris Ray, a 72-year-old blind disability outreach director in Arlington, Virginia, tried to use the @CDCgov 's VAMS website to register and could not without sighted help

“This is outrageous in the time of a public health emergency, that blind people aren’t able to access something to get vaccinated,” she said

Connecticut Department of Public Health spokesperson Maura Fitzgerald said the state was aware of “many accessibility issues” with VAMS.

Blind people are particularly vulnerable to contracting the covid virus because they often cannot physically distance themselves from others.

“When I go to the grocery store, I do not have the option of walking around and not being near a person” said Albert Elia, a blind lawyer

“I resent that the assumption is that a sighted fairy godmother ought to be there at all times,” said Sheela Gunn-Cushman, a 49-year-old also in Alameda County, California, who had to rely on a service that connected her with a sighted person to complete vaccine preregistration.

If vaccine accessibility issues are not fixed across the country, though, lawsuits could come next, Elia said.

Members of the blind community recently won landmark lawsuits against Domino’s Pizza and the Winn-Dixie grocery chain after being unable to order online.

And, Elia said, “this is not ordering a pizza — this is being able to get a potentially lifesaving vaccine.” @KHNews @hannah_recht

latimes.com/california/sto…