PAL | Personal Accessibility Liaison

Personal Accessibility Liaison

Another First, from the Mahalo.Market | PAL

While we can do some of the more reasonable things to be compliant like alt-tags, and alternate controls. The challenges presented include problems that cannot be resolved in conventional ways.

Therefore, the solution must be extraordinary in nature. With this in mind, the founders have decided that Mahalo.Market will be “First Again” in the industry.

The solution is our ‘Personal Accessibility Liaison’ (ie; PAL) program.

To maintain 100% compliance with all ADA and Wag 2.0 related around the world, this program will assign a PAL to any disabled shopper at no extra cost whatsoever.

PAL is your “Personal Accessibility Liaison” and you can request assistance 24/7 simply request one of the following personal one-on-one services;

    1. Request search and present for any product;
    2. Request a re-fill for any previous order;
    3. Request a PAL to act as your tour guide for shopping (co-browsing);
    4. Request assistance with refunds, or other order problems;

You may request any of the above using your phone to send a text message, you can call us, leave a voice message, or make an appointment using our PAL Appointment service.

  1. Your PAL will screen share with you and perform anything you cannot, on your behalf;
  2. Having trouble with finding what you need, ask your PAL to find it for you;
  3. Can’t see the screen? Ask your PAL to shop for you;

This is the perfect solution to the needs of any disabled person, PAL is better than any website can attain mechanically or by using A.I.

With PAL, nothing whatsoever can prohibit any disabled person from completing any task a non-disabled person can at the Mahalo.Market.

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How to use the PAL System

For shoppers with disabilities, PAL is FREE and easy to use.

At the TOP RIGHT area of any display on our website, simply select the PAL button. You will be taken to a page where you can set an appointment to shop with your PAL. Simply select a time, and your PAL will initiate a Zoom screen sharing session with you at the scheduled time.

Once live on Zoom, your PAL will help you with any shopping assistance you may require.

You may also text, or leave a voice mail 24/7 and request assistance with a specific product or search. Your PAL may be able to complete the requested purchase without an appointment. In that case, your PAL may simply send you a request to confirm your purchase.

We believe that our PAL program is the most aggressive solution to serving the millions of disabled people around the world, and we are proud to be the first marketplace to offer this innovative service.

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Our Solution to the Needs of Disabled Users

The challenges presented by the ADA and WAG include the potential for lawsuits that could cripple or bankrupt our marketplace. The costs can go quickly into hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. What’s worse, there is no required 30, 60, 0r 90-day warning, and no matter what mechanical or A.I. solution you chose to employ and pay for, it will never be enough to prevent a lawsuit.

This is an unacceptable liability for any business to assume..!

Frankly, we very nearly decided to terminate the Mahalo.Market project and millions spent on development because our lawyers could not find a path to 100% protection. Further, it’s not reasonable to put yourself in harm’s way to build a company that is designed to serve in the first place.

To be 100% clear, the applicable laws flatly DO NOT provide a way to attain 100% protection using any mechanical or A.I. solution. Any attorney that says otherwise, run fast as you can, don’t walk, they will get you sued guaranteed.

After a thorough assessment of the challenges that the ADA, WAG, and other laws designed to protect and enable the disabled. We have come to the only 100% compliant solution possible… The PAL program.

 

The Legal Side of PAL

Our PAL (“Personal Accessibility Liaison”) program is specifically designed to assist any disabled person [4], or helps any paraplegic [6] to perform shopping and other functions on the Mahalo.Market website.

Note, the term PAL (“Personal Accessibility Liaison”), is synonymous with “Personal Assistance Services” (ie; as cited at law) and generally means as follows [8][9];

A PAL (ie; a specifically designated support team member), will provide a range of services to assist persons of all ages, with any sort of disability or chronic condition, including;

  1. To act as a page-turner where the disabled person has no hands [2];
  2. To act as a reader or interpreter [1];
  3. To act as a sighted guide while shopping at Mahalo.Market [5];
  4. To assistance in the form of hands-on assistance (co-browsing and performing a task for an individual);
  5. To assist in the form of cueing, so that the person performs the task by him/herself;
  6. To generally assist or perform any shopping activities the individual would typically perform if the individual did not have a disability [10];

** PAL ~ an exclusive service of Mahalo.Market

The above considers applicable, statutes, regulations, and related policy interpretations as issued. In all cases, DFY “Personal Assistance Services” are considered “Reasonable Accommodation” under the ADA, WAG, etc., therefore absolving us of any other changes to our website. That said, we do try to make DIY compliant work where possible. Please note all references below.

 

Summary and Position Statement

By way of providing a PAL at no cost to the disabled, Mahalo.Market has made every reasonable attempt to accommodate all persons identified in ADA and WAG-related laws around the world, as protected persons with a disability.

Please note for example the accessibility widget in the upper left of the display, and we are working to have alt tags and other technical accommodations in place before our official public opening.

But, our lawyers have made it very clear that there is no guarantee that even with the accessibility widget and technical fixes that we can avoid a lawsuit. Therefore, we have created this PAL program.

Note: The addition of our PAL program is a counter-balance making any mechanical failure of the marketplace website 100% irrelevant, and will not be considered cause for action under ADA, WAG, or any other similar legal structure. Our PAL program, where you request DFY or DWA, completely replaces 100% of any DIY accessibility requirements.

Therefore, any litigation that attempts to claim ADA non-compliance is clearly frivolous and will result in an immediate counter-suit in the amount of $5m (five million dollars) USD.

** DFY – Done For You, and DIY – Do it Yourself, and DWA – Done With Assistance

 


Sources

  1. 29 CFR 1630.2(o)(2)(ii);
  2. EEOC Interpretative Guidance 56 FR 35744 (July 26, 1991). See also EEOC Technical Assistance Manual 10 (page III-33).
  3. Personal Assistance Services in the Workplace (Department of Labor, ODEP Education Kit 1997).
  4. Id. ??
  5. EEOC Interpretative Guidance 56 FR 35744 (July 26, 1991). See also EEOC Technical Assistance Manual, 10 (page III-33).
  6. DOL/ODEP PAS In the Workplace Education Kit.
  7. The Applicability of the ADA to Personal Assistance Services in the Workplace
  8. Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act, 42 USC 1320b-22(b)(2)(B)(ii); 34 CFR 361.5; (39).
  9. Rehabilitation Act, 34 CFR 361.5(39);
  10. The State Medicaid Manual, Section 4480 of the State Medicaid Manual, Personal Care Services.
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