ALAMEDA COUNTY / Blind student sues Target over firm's Web site / It lacks software that allows access to visually impaired

A blind UC Berkeley student is suing Target Corp., saying the retailer is violating the civil rights of those who cannot see because its Web site is inaccessible to them.

Although it might seem odd that the blind would use a Web site like www.target.com, advocates for the blind said Wednesday that computer software and coding embedded in Web sites makes surfing the Internet as easy for those who cannot see as it is for those who can.

But Target's Web site, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Alameda County Superior Court, does not support such software, making the site useless to the blind -- a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act and various state laws.

"Target thus excludes the blind from full and equal participation in the growing Internet economy that is increasingly a fundamental part of daily life," said the suit, which seeks class action certification.

Advocates for the blind said the lawsuit is a shot across the bow for retailers, newspapers and other businesses that have Web sites the blind cannot use. They chose Target because of its popularity and because of a large number of complaints by blind patrons.

"What I hope is that Target and other online merchants will realize how important it is to reach 1.3 million people in this nation and the growing Baby Boomer population who will also be losing vision," said Bruce Sexton Jr., 24, the blind third-year Cal student who filed the suit.

In a statement Wednesday, Target said it hadn't been served with the suit and couldn't comment. "However, we strive to make our goods and services available to all of our guests, including those with disabilities," the company said.

Sexton, president of the California Association of Blind Students, said making Target's Web site accessible to the blind would also make it more navigable by those without vision problems.

Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind in Baltimore, an advocacy group that's also a plaintiff in the suit, said Wednesday that the complaint is based on the theory that the online portals of "brick-and-mortar stores" must be equally accessible. Too often, he said, such is not the case.

"Target is one of the biggest companies in the country," Maurer said. "One of the things we're trying to do is change the way this is done."

Blind people access Web sites using keyboards and screen-reading software that vocalizes the information others see on a computer screen. But Target's site lacks "alt-text," an invisible code embedded beneath images on the Web site that screen-reading software uses to provide descriptions to the blind, the suit said.

The Web site also has inaccessible image maps, the suit said. Image maps, when clicked on by sighted users, allow the patron to jump to other parts of the Web site. Without image maps, visitors to www.target.com must use a mouse to complete transactions -- preventing blind patrons from surfing the site or making online purchases, the suit said.

Some companies, like Wells Fargo & Co., have Web sites accessible to the blind, said Mazen Basrawi, an attorney with Disability Rights Advocates of Berkeley, which represents the plaintiffs.

In 2003, Wells Fargo was the first financial institution to have its Web site certified by Maurer's group, bank spokesman Chris Hammond said.

Basrawi said the plaintiffs began negotiating with Target after writing to the retailer in May 2005. But talks broke down last month, and the company, which the attorney described as "one of the biggest offenders," declined to modify its Web site.

"Blind people have complained about (Target's Web site) in particular," Basrawi said. "That one's gotten a lot of complaints, especially because it's completely unusable. A blind person cannot make a purchase independently on target.com."

Target has 1,400 stores in 47 states, including 205 in California, and reported $46 billion in revenue in 2004.