We’re all too accustomed to frivolous lawsuits about iPhone batteries or people being blinded by MacBooks that are just too damn white, so it’s always a pleasant surprise to see the legal system carrying out the job it was intended to: righting wrongs.
Two customers of the San Francisco Apple Store on Stockton Street have launched a suit complaining that the store in question fails to comply with both the Americans with Disability Act and the California Health and Safety Code by not providing “full and equal” access for disabled patrons. Counters and tables which display products are located too high for wheelchair-bound customers to reach, and the height of the Genius Bar means that it’s difficult for them to observe when they bring a machine in for service. In addition, the several parts of the store, including the theater and the restrooms, were not wheelchair-friendly.
Worse, though, was the fact that both customers found themselves overlooked—presumably unintentionally—by the store’s staff, leading them to conclude that Apple did not have a policy in place for assisting disabled customers.
If Apple doesn’t have an existing policy, they should certainly put one in place, and if a lawsuit is what that takes, so be it. I would hope they’ll quickly remedy this issue for all of their stores.
Definitely a worthwhile case but I do wonder why they are claiming damages. The stores absolutely should cater to the disabled but is there actually any compensation to be paid out to the plaintiffs here? By all means fine Apple and have the money donated to a disabled charity but I don't believe the individuals involved can claim damages here. Mind you, we are discussing the US legal system here so probably anything goes.
To think that Apple built a store that did not comply with ADAAG (Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines) is absurd given that the concept of the Apple Store isn't even 10 years old and the accessible design standards required for buildings to be built are at least 5 years older than that. For Apple to provide display and genius areas with accessible height counters is at worst an oversight in the furniture layout in the store. This smells more like a high-profile angle shoot, especially the part about "being overlooked by staff". Please. My prediction: this will die a quick and uneventful death, as most of the "lawsuits" of this nature do.
Apple has to make their stores disabled friendly.
What better tool for a wheel chair bound person than a mac?
I was close to being paralized this year by a spinal tumor ( it was taken out, i am healing).
After a life of being in top physical shape-Firefighter, college athlete, etc, to suddenly find myself facing paralysis, I comforted myself knowing that I can always use my computers.
Apple, get on it!
So every counter and the Genius Bar should be 3 feet high ??? Unbelievable!!! I hope they lose and are forced to pay full court costs!
I can only compare the Apple Store in Seattle's University Village with a Barnes and Noble megastore in the same complex. Both are probably typical of their kind.
The Apple Store's wide, level entrance is a breeze for someone in a wheelchair, and in good weather the door is left open. B&N's always closed, clumsy, double-set of doors are a pain even for the normally abled. The Apple Store is open, with roomy aisles and most of the shelves are chest level or lower. B&N's aisles are so narrow, I'd hate to negotiate them in a wheelchair, while the great bulk of the books are on shelves too high or too low for someone confined to a wheelchair to reach. The Apple Store is on one level. B&N is on two levels with only a sluggish elevator for transport. (I'm not even sure someone in a wheelchair could get to their upper level coffee shop.) And don't get me on to how grossly inadequate B&N's single set of restrooms are. Even ordinary folk are tortured waiting their turn in line.
In short, on a ten-point scale of accessibility, I'd give the Apple Store a nine and B&N a four. At an Apple Store someone in a wheelchair might have to occasionally ask for help. At B&N, they'd need an attendant to do almost anything.
One of life's more tiresome aspects is the human tendency to bully and imitate the bullying of others. Lawyers are especially prone to that sort of behavior, and I suspect that's why this dispute targets Apple rather than the far greater offenders in a typical shopping complex. If you've been following the news, lawyers are into beating up on Apple for every reason imaginable. Lawyers get very unhappy when they see anyone but themselves getting rich. (Look at John Edwards 12,000 square foot mansion and compare it with his self-enriching rhetoric about greedy corporations.)
There's also the Frank Lloyd Wright complex, named after that all-too-well-known architect. I visited a model home he designed and hated the place. Everything was uncomfortably low. Later I found out that the guy was very short and designed for his height rather than that of ordinary people, much less overweight people (the most common disability in this country), who'd find it nearly impossible to get out of his too-low chairs and beds.
Some people with disabilities have a similar complex. The world, they think, ought to be designed exclusively with them in mind. Apple's Genius Bar may be too high for someone in a wheelchair, but it's perfect for a normal person in a hurry. To criticize it is silly. This world is a world of choices. Buildings should be designed for average people with exceptions for those who aren't. Remember, there are people who'd find too low all the things those in this lawsuit are finding too high.
Sadly, we have become a nation of whiners and self-appointed victims. Those filing the lawsuit ought to be targeting stores that really are a hassle to get in and out. And they ought to be cultivating personalities that make others eager to help them with things that are designed, as they ought to be, for ordinary people, not calling lawyers and behaving unreasonably.
According to the Census Bureau, about 2.7 million people are in wheelchairs, or roughly 0.9% of the population of the US.
Given those numbers, I have to question just to what extent a given business should be required to cater to a particular group. Are we supposed to ban all high counters at all restaurants, airports, help desks, hotels, rental agencies, and anywhere else the wheelchair bound might appear?
Does Costco and Home Depot and every other warehouse store need to pull down the 10' shelving on which the vast majority of their products are displayed?
All in all, I suspect this is more about the publicity that will gathered by a sympathetic group attacking a high profile target.
Pathetic, isn't it? Unfortunately, in this country that's the only way it can be done: claim that you (or some "class" you represent) were monetarily damaged by someone's action, dream up some dollar amount, and sue them for it. Hey, I think they damaged me by making me really, really want this gorgeous new iMac, but I can't afford one! Hmm...
Im pretty sure, I have saw an Apple Store with lowered areas for the Genius Bar. It may have been a reseller, but still.
Here is another classic example of some one trying to cash in on Apple. I bet the other 10 stores they went to that day had counters out of reach too. I live in an area that has one of the top largest malls in the US, and I don't think there is a single store there that has "handicap accessible" counters. All the counters are normal standing height.
Sorry you're handicapped. You can't expect the whole world to conform to just you. When needed, ramps and wide accesses to bathrooms and buildings are a must to meeet basic town code and be granted a COA to open. You must admit, once you start complaining about product and counter heights, you're getting a little out of hand.
Maybe fat peple should sue because the aisles are too close together. Or blind people should sue because the store displays aren't done up in braile.
I hope this case and those two get thrown out of court. They obviously have an axe to grind with the whole world, and are using Apple as a forum for their own political agenda.
Go after Bob the cell phone case kiosk guy, or Apple? Who do you think?
The Americans with Disabilities Act is law. Therefore, whether Apple or B&N are, comparatively, more friendly to the disabled is irrelevant. If Apple has not complied with the law, then it must make changes to its physical store and policies to be in compliance with the ADA.