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Grethe Presnar
The internet offers a unique challenge: how do we ensure that all of our digital products, services, and communications are accessible to people with disabilities? What are companies required to do to accommodate such users?
Federal disability laws still await comprehensive updates to keep pace with the digital world. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was set to receive input from the DOJ in 2018. However, such plans were dismissed in 2017 by the Trump administration and the DOJ indicated it would not give official guidance regarding website accessibility under the ADA.
Aside from direct amendments to the laws, or lack thereof (in the case of the ADA), disability case law has played a major role in setting precedent for how the ADA applies to the internet. One landmark case comes the mind:
NAD v. Netflix.
In 2015, more than half of all Americans watched Netflix. In 2020, there were 203.67 million Netflix subscribers worldwide. Because of its widespread use and popularity, the video streaming service must be made accessible to deaf and hard of hearing viewers.
The outcome of the lawsuit sent a strong message to video creators and distributors that the ADA may apply to your online content. This has far-reaching implications for other entertainment companies that stream video online, like Hulu or HBO Max. It can also affect how the ADA is interpreted in cases of educational videos, such as the closed captioning lawsuit against Harvard and MIT.
In the years since this case, Congress passed the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which applies FCC closed captioning rules to any online video content that previously aired on American television with captions. This erased any doubt that TV shows streamed online require captions.
DISCLAIMER: This blog post is written for educational and general information purposes only, and does not constitute specific legal advice. This blog should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional attorney in your state.
Netflix is vowing to fight a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she was "tormented" after being identified by online sleuths as the inspiration behind a stalker character in the popular series "Baby Reindeer."
Fiona Harvey is seeking $170 million from the streaming service over the show's depiction of her as Martha, a person obsessed with another character, Donny, played by Richard Gadd, the drama's creator.
Harvey, a Scottish attorney living in London, did patronize the London bar where Gadd worked, but does not have a criminal record, as the Martha character possesses in the limited series that premiered in April, her suit states. She was identified as the character Martha due to an expression used in the show that she tweeted in 2014, tagging Gadd.
Harvey told British broadcaster Piers Morgan last month that she had sent "a couple of emails," posted about 18 tweets in which she tagged Gadd and mailed one letter, at a time she considered him a friend. She denied Gadd's contention that he based the character of Martha on a person who sent him more than 40,000 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets and 46 Facebook messages across four phony accounts and more than 100 pages of letters during a three-year period.
Gadd on Instagram has called on fans of the show to stop trying to identify the real people behind his characters. He cleared the name of one man who had been mistakenly identified as another character.
If you have found yourself hearing the words "Baby Reindeer" over and over again in recent weeks, you surely are not alone as the title of Netflix's latest home run series seems to be everywhere at the moment.
Since Baby Reindeer hit the streaming platform on April 11, word of mouth has spread like wildfire to make this show No. 1 on Netflix's charts and to shine a major spotlight on the show's writer and creator, Richard Gadd. The Scottish comedian and actor, 34, also stars in the limited series which follows the shocking but true story of his own experience with a stalker, "Martha Scott," who sent him 41,071 emails, 744 tweets and 350 hours worth of voicemails over the course of six years.
A curious name for a show, viewers do not have to wait long into the first episode to find out why Gadd opted to call the series -- and the original one-man West End play it is based on -- Baby Reindeer. The show's name derives from the sobriquet Gadd's stalker referred to him as before police officially stepped in.
Baby Reindeer begins with Donny Dunn (Gadd), helping out a complete stranger, Martha (Jessica Gunning), by providing her with a cup of tea on the house inside the pub where he works. The simple act of kindness quickly turns out to be one that he would regret as Martha -- whose name and other details have been changed in the show to protect her identity -- latches on to him and begins a parasitic relationship. The woman begins visiting him every day at work, messaging him non-stop and even harassing other people in his life, including his parents, girlfriend and co-workers.
While many have watched the series in shock and horror at the whole ordeal -- including the fact that investigators refused to intervene until Martha, a serial stalker, began contacting and threatening his family and loved ones -- others have been left to wonder just how much of the show is real.
According to Gadd, much of the show -- including his painful recollection of drug addiction and sexual abuse at the hands of a mentor in the writing space -- is pulled straight from his own experience and "emotionally 100 percent true," he told Variety. For obvious legal reasons, however, many details have been adjusted. Some who watch the show may be surprised to find out that some details -- namely the scale of the stalking -- have been toned down.
Forbes reports that in the stage play -- which premiered at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival before winning an Olivier on the West End -- Gadd reveals that in addition to the in-person harassment, Martha sent 41,071 emails, 350 hours of voicemails, 744 tweets, 46 Facebook messages and 106 pages worth of letters.
In the show, Martha sends Donny up to 80 emails a day, sits at a bus stop near his home, assaults both his ex-girlfriend and current love interest and follows him to standup show after standup show where he -- an aspiring comedian -- is met by heckling from her in the audience. At one point, the woman even attempts to turn the crowd at a festival against him by jeering at his jokes and making damning accusations.
While the show ends with Martha sentenced to nine months in prison, Gadd has been incredibly tight-lipped about how his real-life stalker was dealt with, only that he has "mixed feelings" about how the situation was resolved, he once told The Independent.
"I can't emphasize enough how much of a victim she is in all this," he said. "Stalking and harassment is a form of mental illness. It would have been wrong to paint her as a monster, because she's unwell, and the system's failed her."
"It would be unfair to say she was an awful person and I was a victim. That didn't feel true," the writer said in 2019. "I did loads of things wrong and made the situation worse. I wasn't a perfect person [back then], so there's no point saying I was."
The comments are echoed in the show where Gadd's character expresses his complicated outlook on his role in Martha's attachment and how his own sexual abuse at the hands of Darrien O'Connor (Tom Goodman-Hill), an older comedian who groomed then abused him. Gadd believes that his horrific history of sexual violence at the hands of someone he trusted made him a "sticking plaster" for someone like Martha to come along and become attached to.
While Gadd has not been shy about putting it all out on the line, one thing he is not here for is anyone who is trying to expose or uncover the identity of his real-life stalker or his abuser. In Baby Reindeer, the actor makes a point to touch on Martha's own traumatic experiences that shaped her into the person she became. In the weeks since the show's release, he has asked his recent barrage of new fans and followers to avoid falling down a rabbit hole and speculating about the identities of his rapist and stalker.
"Hi Everyone, People I love, have worked with, and admire (including Sean Foley) are unfairly getting caught up in speculation," he wrote in an Instagram Story, per Today. "Please don't speculate on who any of the real life people could be. That's not the point of our show."
Despite those efforts, a woman named Fiona Harvey has since come forward, claiming that the character of Martha is based off of her. In an interview with Piers Morgan, Harvey denied many plot points of Baby Reindeer and said that she plans to sue both Gadd and Netflix for the character's portrayal on the show.
"I find it quite obscene. I find it horrifying, misogynistic," she said, alleging that "some of the death threats have been really terrible online. People [are] phoning me up. It's been absolutely horrendous. I wouldn't give credence to something like that, and it's not really my kind of drama."
"He'd failed as a comedian, he'd failed as an actor, so therefore, let's make some money, sell this to Netflix," she said. "... I would challenge him to leave me alone... Get a life. Get a proper job. I am horrified at what you've done."
Talking with ET from the 2024 Gotham TV Awards in New York City on June 4, the 32-year-old actress said that when Harvey sat down with Morgan for a supposed "tell-all" interview, the Baby Reindeer team opted to steer clear of the drama.
"Yeah, we decided not to watch it, so we didn't," Mau told ET. The Mexican-born actress didn't elaborate on the reasoning, but it's evident that as Harvey has recently threatened legal action, it may be best to leave it up to the higher-ups and lawyers.
On June 6, Harvey sued Netflix -- but did not name Gadd as a defendant -- and alleged defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and violations of her right of publicity. She is demanding at least $170 million in damages, according to court documents sent to ET.
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