Blind woman launches claim of unlawful discrimination against Coles over website

Updated

There are few people who need the benefits of online shopping more than the disabled, but one blind woman says she is being discriminated against because of problems with the Coles website.

Gisele Mesnage is now taking on the supermarket giant in the courts and if she succeeds her lawyer said it could have implications for other websites.

Ms Mesnage has been legally blind since birth and said online shopping had changed her life.

"Just from a practical point of view it's a lot easier for me to shop online than struggle in a physical store," she said.

"I can see the prices when I'm online, I can see all the new products, I can put in the trolley exactly what I want. So for me online shopping is an essential service."

But it is an essential service that she said she was being denied by Coles.

"Since 2008 I have been trying to use the Coles online website and there was quite a lot of issues, including one where I couldn't select the delivery time, which was fixed in 2010," she said.

"For about three-and-a-half years I managed to use the website, select the delivery time, do my orders unassisted.

"But then in September 2013, Coles launched a new upgrade of the website and since then it's been extremely difficult for me to create an order and lodge the order independently."

She alleged that amounted to discrimination and that some online orders had taken her days to complete. She said that is why she is taking Coles to court.

I don't want special consideration, just the same consideration of other customers. Gisele Mesnage

"I want us to be taken seriously as people with disabilities. I want Coles and other online shopping services to remember that there are blind and vision-impaired clients using their website and [they] need to be accessible to us," she said.

Ms Mesnage said the legal action followed years of negotiations with Coles which had failed to bring about any lasting solution.

"I'm asking them to fix the website, I'm asking them to not repeat this cycle of upgrades and accessibility barriers that has been going on for the last six years," she said.

"I don't want special consideration, just the same consideration of other customers.

"They wouldn't launch a website where you could not select a delivery time - where the average customer, the normal customer, could not select a delivery time. They would not do that.

"If there was an issue they would fix it within 48 hours. I wouldn't need to go to court to have something like that fixed."

Legal action the absolute last resort, lawyer says

Her lawyer, Michelle Cohen from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, has lodged the case in the Federal Court of Australia.

"Ms Mesnage is taking legal action as the absolute last resort here. Gisele's been talking to Coles about accessibility of their website since 2008," Ms Cohen said.

"Coles made improvements to the site in 2010 to ensure that the website was accessible, however they failed to ensure that the site remained accessible after a 2013 upgrade.

"Gisele's really taking this legal action because she wants to ensure that the site is accessible now and that Coles puts appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure that the site remains accessible in the future.

People who are blind and vision impaired should be able to order a taxi online, on an equal basis to other people that aren't blind and vision impaired. Michelle Cohen from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre

"Gisele has taken this claim against Coles because of her history in discussing these issues with Coles."

Ms Cohen said if successful, the case could have implications for other online services.

"The knock-on effect could affect other essential services that are provided online," she said.

"It just depends on the capacity of those services, to implement equal access to the website.

"However, for example, people with disabilities, people who are blind and vision impaired should be able to order a taxi online, on an equal basis to other people that aren't blind and vision impaired."

Ms Menage said she would like "to take them all on, but the reality is that I can only take one or two at a time because it's such a massive responsibility to do it".

In a statement Coles said it recognised and endorsed the importance of online accessibility, and was continually working to improve its online service.

The company said it would review the court filings and respond in due course.

Topics: law-crime-and-justice, disabilities, retail, australia

First posted