Rite Aid works to help disabled customers

CAMP HILL, Pa. Rite Aid has announced that it has taken a number of initiatives to help its customers with visual impairments and other disabilities. As part of the program, Rite Aid has made enhancements to its Web site and has begun installing new point of sale equipment with tactile keypads to protect the privacy and security of all shoppers who have difficulty entering numbers on a flat screen.

As part of its efforts, Rite Aid has ensured that its Web site, www.riteaid.com, meets guidelines issued by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (w3c) (www.w3.org/wai). The guidelines, which do not affect the content or look and feel of a Web site, ensure that Web sites are accessible to persons with a wide range of disabilities. The guidelines are of particular benefit to blind computer users who use a screen reader or magnification technology on their computers and who rely on a keyboard instead of a mouse.

Rite Aid’s point of sales improvements are designed to assist customers who cannot read information on a flat screen point of sale device and therefore cannot privately enter their PIN or other confidential information. Most point of sale devices in Rite Aid stores now have tactile keys to prevent this problem, and the company will be replacing remaining non-tactile devices by the end of 2009.