A woman has filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster in the Southern District of Florida for its violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), noting that the ticketing giant’s mobile app is not fully accessible for visually impaired consumers.
The plaintiff, Windy Lucius, has been blind for nine years and uses the internet as a way to “navigate a world of goods, products and services like the sighted,” according to official court documents. Lucius claims that Ticketmaster’s mobile application is not fully accessible. To access the app’s content, blind and visually impaired customers must use assistive technology through their iPhone, like the VoiceOver screen reader software. However, the suit says that the Ticketmaster app contains “digital barriers” which limit the ability for the visually impaired to access its program.
In the court documents, Lucius said she would like to be able to learn about upcoming events and take advantage of special discounts Ticketmaster offers, but unless the defendant eliminates access barriers and changes its policies, she will be denied full access to the app’s capabilities.
“Plaintiff has suffered, and continues to suffer, frustration and humiliation as the result of the discriminatory conditions present at Defendant’s app,” court documents note. “By continuing to operate its app with discriminatory conditions, Defendant contributes to Plaintiff’s sense of isolation and segregation and deprives Plaintiff the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges and/or accommodations available to the general public.
“By encountering the discriminatory conditions at Defendant’s app, and knowing that it would be a futile gesture to attempt to utilize the app unless she is willing to endure additional discrimination, Plaintiff is deprived of the meaningful choice of freely visiting and utilizing the same accommodations readily available to the general public and is deterred and discouraged from doing so. By maintaining an app with violations, Defendant deprives Plaintiff the equality of opportunity offered to the general public.”
Lucius is asking Ticketmaster to modify its app to be fully accessible and independently used by blind or visually impaired users. She will continue to monitor the app and attempt to utilize its features in the near future to see if it has been updated to interact properly with the screen reader software. Then, she intends to purchase tickets to events when the current COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.