Washington Post

Chevy Chase Bank to Use 'Talking' ATMs for Blind

By Bill Miller
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 29, 2001; Page A21

Chevy Chase Bank yesterday promised to install voice-guided automated
teller machines at more than 500 area locations within three years,
acting in the
wake of a federal lawsuit filed by three blind men and advocacy groups
for the blind.

Advocates hailed the decision, saying Chevy Chase Bank will become the
area's first financial institution to make such machines readily
available to the
public.

Blind customers will be able to use their own headsets to plug into ATMs,
getting step-by-step instructions on how to withdraw cash and complete
other transactions.

"I hope that this will be a model for other banks in the area," said
Elaine Gardner, a plaintiffs' attorney who is from the Washington
Lawyers' Committee
for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. "These will be the very first ATM
machines that many blind people use."

Chevy Chase is the largest bank based in the region, with more than 180
branches and more than 800 ATMs in the District, Maryland and Virginia.
Bank officials
said they will start a pilot program within six months using 20
voice-guided ATMs, then will begin retrofitting hundreds of other ATMs
with technology
developed by NCR Corp.

Numerous banks throughout the country have begun introducing voice-guided
ATMs in response to pressure from the Baltimore-based National Federation
of the
Blind and other groups. The nation's first such ATM was put into use in
1999 in San Francisco. Since then, several large financial institutions
have been
installing the special machines or making plans to do so. Roughly 1.1
million Americans are legally blind.

Federal officials are considering a proposed guideline that would
specifically require voice-guided ATMs under the Americans With
Disabilities Act. Advocates
said that most blind people cannot read the Braille that is displayed on
current ATMs.

Chevy Chase Bank agreed to install voice-guided, or "talking," ATMs after
discussions with the National Federation of the Blind and the Disability
Rights
Council of Greater Washington. Those groups -- along with three blind
bank patrons -- filed suit against Chevy Chase last year, seeking an
order that would
force changes. Instead of fighting the suit, bank officials decided to
amicably work out a plan to address the groups' concerns.

The bank was targeted because it operates the area's largest ATM network
and because its machines are at prime locations used by the public
throughout Washington,
advocates said. The first 20 voice-guided machines will be at airports,
museums and Union Station.

Curtis Chong, the National Federation of the Blind's technology director,
said ATMs can be equipped at reasonable cost, "from a few hundred dollars
to a
couple thousand" apiece. Banking industry officials, however, pegged the
cost at $1,000 to $3,000 per machine.

According to the lawsuit, many blind patrons have been forced to rely on
others to do their banking for them, forcing them to reveal their
personal identification
numbers. Others have managed by memorizing the sequence of keys at
certain machines.

The federation filed a similar suit last year against Diebold Inc., the
nation's leading manufacturer of ATMs. Diebold agreed to install
voice-guided ATMs
at four Rite Aid pharmacies in Washington and is working with the
federation on new technology.

The individual plaintiffs in the Chevy Chase Bank case were James Gashel,
of Baltimore, a federation lobbyist; Raymond Raysor, of Landover, who
owns a snack
shop in the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building in the District;
and Donald Galloway, of Northwest Washington, a disabilities rights
coordinator
for the D.C. government.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company


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