A visually-impaired woman has filed a class-action lawsuit against a health and wellness company, alleging its website is inaccessible to blind users. On December 27, 2024, Constance Henry lodged the complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against O Positiv, Inc., claiming that the company's website violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Constance Henry, who is legally blind and requires screen-reading software to access online content, claims that O Positiv's website, Opositiv.com, is not designed to be accessible to visually impaired individuals. The lawsuit argues that this inaccessibility denies blind and visually impaired people equal access to the goods and services offered by O Positiv through its website. According to Henry's complaint, she attempted to purchase women's supplements from Opositiv.com but was unable to complete her transaction due to various accessibility barriers on the site. These barriers include a lack of alternative text for images, improperly labeled interactive elements, and reliance on mouse navigation instead of keyboard commands.
The complaint highlights that approximately 8.1 million people in the United States are visually impaired, including 2 million who are blind. It also references guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) for making websites accessible to individuals with disabilities. Despite these guidelines being readily available and used by other companies, Henry alleges that O Positiv has failed to implement them on its website.
Henry's lawsuit seeks several forms of relief from the court. She requests a permanent injunction requiring O Positiv to modify its website policies and practices so that it becomes fully accessible to blind consumers. Additionally, she seeks compensatory damages for herself and other class members who have experienced discrimination due to the website's inaccessibility. The lawsuit also demands punitive damages and an award covering legal costs.
The case has been assigned Case No.: 1:24-cv-13276 and will be presided over by judges at the Northern District of Illinois court. David Reyes of Asher Cohen Law PLLC represents Constance Henry in this matter.