Protecting Disabled Consumers in the Online Marketplace

Dr Clare Williams

Dr. Eliza Varney will speak on 'Protecting Disabled Consumers in the Online Marketplace:
Does the DMCCA 2024 Measure Up to Expectations?'

Disability Law @ Birmingham (D-L@B) is pleased to be hosting Dr Eliza Varney on 28th April for an online research seminar where she will be speaking about protections for disabled consumers in the online marketplace. About the seminar:The shopping environment has changed considerably in our lifetime, and the digital marketplace has brought us many advantages, including increased choice and comfort. At the same time, the proliferation of online shopping has also brought with it new challenges. While traders have always sought to rely on persuasive techniques to influence our choices, the online marketplace has provided a setting where these techniques can be more subtle. ‘Dark pattern’ may not be a universally recognisable term, but the effects of the practices described by this concept have affected most, if not all of us, when navigating the digital environment. Dark patterns are design features employed by traders to present information in a way that manipulates consumer choice. Examples include false claims about low stock, trick questions deliberately designed to confuse consumers to agree to subscriptions, and difficult to cancel subscriptions following a free trial. These practices can lead not only to economic harm, but also to emotional harm, affecting people’s mental health, and causing loss of confidence within the digital environment. These deceptive patterns can be more problematic for disabled consumers, including in the way they interact with the screen reader technology used by blind consumers, or the way in which they affect neurodivergent consumers. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA) 2024 seeks to address some of the challenges posed by dark patterns, but do these measures go sufficiently far in protecting disabled consumers in the digital environment? This paper examines whether the DMCCA pays sufficient attention to human diversity, the different ways in which people access and process information, and the different circumstances that make consumers vulnerable in the online marketplace. The analysis is conducted using as a lens the values pursued by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, including the values of dignity, autonomy, participation, and inclusion. About the speaker:Dr. Eliza Varney is Associate Professor in Law at the University of Nottingham. Her research interest is in disability equality and contract law, including consumer contract law. Eliza’s research focuses on the compatibility of English contract law with the values pursued by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in particular the protection of autonomy and human dignity. Eliza has also conducted research on disability equality and access to information and communication technologies and the implementation of the CRPD. Her publications include the monographs Disability, Human Rights, and Contract Law (CUP, 2025) and Disability and Information Technology (CUP, 2013), as well as book chapters, including the contributions on Articles 21 and 49 CRPD in Ilias Bantekas, Michael Ashley Stein, and Dimitris Anastasiou (eds) The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2018), and articles in Legal Studies, King’s Law Journal, Journal of Business Law, Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Communications Law, Utilities Law Review, and Zeitschrift fur Rechtssoziologie. Registration:All very welcome. Please register via Eventbrite to receive the Zoom link which will be shared a few days before the event.If you have any access requirements, please contact the organisers ahead of the event. ________________________Future D-L@B events: Wednesday 6th May (2-3pm; hybrid): Louise BellTitle: Disability Employment from Policy to Practice<a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/disability-employment-from-policy-to-practice-in-person-tickets-1981578699232?aff=oddtdtcreator" title="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/disability-employment-from-policy-to-practice-in-person-tickets-1981578699232?aff=oddtdtcreator" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">In-person registration</a><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/disability-employment-from-policy-to-practice-online-tickets-1982966205300?aff=oddtdtcreator" title="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/disability-employment-from-policy-to-practice-online-tickets-1982966205300?aff=oddtdtcreator" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Online registration</a>

Our {communityGuidelinesLink} describe the sort of content we prohibit on Eventbrite. If you suspect an event may be in violation, you can report it to us so we can investigate.

To report other categories of prohibited or illegal content, submit {link}

Protecting Disabled Consumers in the Online Marketplace

More events from Dr Clare Williams

Discover more events from Dr Clare Williams, from Business to other experiences you might love.

Protecting Disabled Consumers in the Online Marketplace

More events from Dr Clare Williams

Discover more events from Dr Clare Williams, from Business to other experiences you might love.

You might also like...

Browse more events with different dates, prices, and formats to find your next great experience.