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Blind Man Sues Playboy For Discrimination Against The Visually Impaired

Blind Man Sues Playboy For Discrimination Against The Visually Impaired

He says he cannot 'fully enjoy' the website's services.

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

A blind man has taken out a lawsuit against Playboy.com because he says their website discriminates against him and other people who are visually impaired.

According to court documents, he claims the magazine's online publication isn't compatible with his screen-reading software, which means he isn't able to enjoy the publication as much as he would like to or expects to.

Donald Nixon, from Queens, New York, decided to sue Playboy because the site violates the American Disabilities Act (ADA) by not making the site accessible to the blind.

According to reports in RT News and TMZ, he has filed a civil suit which if successful would see the firm forced to pay out more than $100,000 (£78,000) in damages to Mr Nixon, as well as having to change their software to make it compatible.

In the documents which were filed on Wednesday, Mr Nixon claimed that as a result of the inadequate software, blind and visually-impaired people 'cannot fully and equally use or enjoy the facilities, products and services', because images lack 'a text equivalent'.

Screen-reading software is used to enable blind people to access text with a speech synthesiser or braille display.

However, as well as the software's failure Mr Nixon has also accused Playboyshop.com of breaching the law because, according to the New York Post, the issues with the software mean he is unable to buy any 'hoodies' or 'jogger pants' from the site.

Some of Hugh Heffner's belongings are being auctioned off, including the first issue of Playboy.
PA

The paper also claims that Nixon has previously filed 47 other lawsuits against other companies for similar violations of the American Disabilities Act.

According to reports, Playboy is currently auctioning off some of the Hugh Heffner's belongings, including the very first issue of the magazine, which contains nude photographs of Hollywood pin-up Marilyn Monroe.

A struggling Monroe had posed for Playboy in 1949, and was paid just $50 at the time. However, despite the photographer at the time promising the actress she wouldn't be identifiable in the pics, Heffner managed to buy them years later for $500 - long after Monroe had shot to fame and they proved to be a hit.

The early edition of the magazine is among a number of items being sold off this weekend, and is expected to fetch between $3,000 (£2,300) and $5,000 (£3,900).

Hefner died of natural causes in September 2017, aged 91 and reports say proceeds from the two-day auction will go to his charitable foundation, which advocates for civil liberties and rights.

LADbible has contacted Playboy for comment.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, UK Entertainment, US Entertainment