This Week in Accessibility: First lawsuit filed over lack of captions in VR

This most recent accessibility litigation evolution has been predicted for the past couple of years by ADA legal experts.

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Dylan Panarra v. HTC Corp — Case 6:20-cv-06991, Filed 11/18/20 in the United States District Court, Western District of New York.

This is just plain, bad #DCX — Disabled Customer Experience.

Case Details

1. Dylan Panarra is profoundly deaf.
2. Panarra wanted to use Viveport Infinity (defendant HTC’s gaming service) with his Oculus Rift device.
3. Panarra is excluded from equal access to Viveport because there are no captions for the audio track.
4. Defendant HTC advertises its product as the “Netflix of VR.” Netflix, after litigation, does caption many of their videos.