NEW YORK CITY — If you're blind, it is impossible to call 911, get directions or access free Wi-Fi using the city's newly installed LinkNYC kiosks, according to a lawsuit filed by residents.
The kiosks — which are meant to be an alternative to pay phones and have been touted by Mayor Bill de Blasio for improving life for people with disabilities — lack basic requirements for use by vision-impaired New Yorkers, including not adding braille onto the keypad and failing to include tech-driven audio functions, the lawsuit states.
The city and Citybridge, which operates the kiosks, "failed to take the minimal and routine steps to make these tablets and other of the various services of LinkNYC accessible to blind New Yorkers," the National Federation of the Blind and three city residents wrote in a civil rights lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court on July 28.
"Defendants ignored their responsibilities and excluded blind people from the technological revolution of LinkNYC."
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Bay Ridge resident Mindy Jacobsen, one of the New Yorkers included in the lawsuit, said she was on her way to a friend's house on July 20 and needed directions so she tried to access a LinkNYC map. But because the machine didn't have a function that reads what's on the screen, she couldn't get any help.
"I touched the screen and nothing happened," she told DNAinfo New York on Monday. "I plugged in my headphones and there was no speech...nothing that would give me any idea of what to touch or press."
"I know that my sighted friends could have figured out where to go and I had no reason to believe the blind community would have been left out," Jacobsen said. "All too often, things are done without keeping the blind in mind. To add speech these days is not a problem."
Manhattan resident Joyce Carrico and Long Island City resident Nihal Erkan — who are both blind and are also party to the lawsuit — tried to use kiosks on Eighth Avenue on July 22 and 25, respectively, and were also unable to decipher how the machines worked because of the lack of accommodation, they said.
Already, the city is taking heat from residents who say they should have been approached about the machines' placement, considering many of them have become spots for homeless encampments.
The lawsuit calls on the city and tech company Citybridge to immediately stop the installation of the kiosks and add accessibility to those already installed, according to attorney Michelle Caiola of Disability Rights Advocates.
A spokeswoman for LinkNYC said that even though current kiosks don't have some accessibility features, it has been a part of the company's plan to incorporate them. But she would not provide a timeline for when those features would be added.
"We have been working with the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities since the beginning of the project, incorporating braille, wheelchair accessibility, a tactile keypad, and a rim around the 911 button into the design," said Ruth Fasoldt, LinkNYC's community affairs manager. "We are actively collaborating with MOPD on software updates that will incorporate new accessibility features and that will improve ease of use for the blind, including better 911 audio cues, talkback features, and mobile applications, among others, and we will continue to work with the City to make updates to LinkNYC to ensure accessibility for all.”
She pointed to an award the city gave to LinkNYC and Citybridge last year for their "inclusive" product.
The company was given an ADA Sapolin Award in August 2015 because they "have fought for the rights of people with disabilities, and in particular those individuals and organizations who have shown exemplary commitment to inclusion, accessibility and equality," Mayor de Blasio said then.
A spokeswoman for the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Maya Worman, said the agency takes accessibility seriously and that its franchise agreement with LinkNYC requires compliance with ADA. She did not explain why the kiosks were permitted to be installed without such accommodations.
Jacobsen, who is a 55-year-old technology teacher at the Vision Services for the Blind at 23rd Street, said it would be helpful to have braille on the keypads and braille that clearly marks what things are in addition to a speech option.
But Caiola says there is no exception under ADA law for a roll-out period or test period.
"It's just astounding since we just celebrated the 26th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act," Caiola said. "The city is often treating the disabled as an afterthought and correct issues once a lawsuit is filed against them."
"Once they provide services or a program, it needs to be accessible at that time," she continued. "We believe it would be most cost-effective to have these accessible from the get-go. I can't imagine a scenario where they'd have to go back and fix them and it be a good thing."
