The Citibank ATM machines do not have a keypad to  enter numbers and make
selections.  There is only the touch screen.  Adding one would mean
completely re-designing the ATM, but Curtis Chong and the National
Federation of the Blind reject the Citibank ATM agreement and the access
it provides because the access solution is touch screen only.  It is far
easier to criticize and excoriate others than it is to do the real work of
creating a solution.  As of today, work undertaken by the NFB has yielded
three talking atm's.  By contrast work undertaken by others, including the
California council of the Blind and leaders around the country has yielded
more than 600 talking atm's as of today.  Feedback and comments about user
experiences and any suggestions on how to make today's solution better are
not only welcome but desired.  Our individual ideas and suggestions can be
pooled to create a truly great solution that will benefit all.

kelly




American Banker

Citi Promises to Install Talking ATMs Nationwide
BY DAVID BREITKOPF

SECTION: Cards


In one of the biggest commitments to date by a banking company to make
its automated teller machines accessible to blind people, Citigroup Inc.
pledged Tuesday to put a "talking" ATM in each of its 370 U.S. Citibank
branches and ATM centers over the next 16 months.



The National Federation of the Blind, which represents more than 11
million visually impaired Americans, has been using lawsuits and other
means to prod banks into making these specially equipped machines. Banks
should be required to maintain at least one voice-guided machine at every
location where there are ATMs, as Citibank will be doing, the group said.
Bank of America Corp., Bank One Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. are among the
other banks that have pledged to deploy these ATMs broadly.



The current federal guidelines for ATM accessibility are vague, and
bankers have been trying to figure out how much they need to do to comply
with the Americans with Disabilities Act.



The National Federal of the Blind has proposed more specific language,
and the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, an
independent federal agency that issues ADA compliance guidelines, has
suggested some technical specifications and requirements for voice- enabled
ATMs.



Citibank, which already had five talking ATMs in California, said
Tuesday it had installed five new machines in branches in New York. The
ATMs deliver audible information privately through an earphone, and guide
people through transactions.



Bank officials said the New York ATMs -- which they say are an
improvement on the pilot ones in California, and use software developed by
Citibank -- will be used in the rest of the country.



About 20% of Citibank's U.S. locations will get a talking ATM by
yearend, and the remaining 80% will get one by October 2002, according to
Wayne Malone, vice president for distribution management for Citibank North
America.



The talking ATMs have the same touch screens as other Citibank
machines, plus Braille indicators at the bottom that instruct customers
where to put their fingers on the touch screen.



Mr. Malone would not say how much it cost the company to install the
talking machines, which he says is part of the overall upgrade of its
entire ATM network. "These are the same screens that we all know and love."



Curtis Chong, director of technology at National Federation of the
Blind, which based in Baltimore, said he welcomed Citibank's commitment,
but he was disappointed that the machines used touch screens instead of
keypads.



"Most blind people would prefer to have real buttons and real keys that
can be touched and felt," he said. "There's tactile verification that you
did push a button. It is my educated guess a lot of blind people will find"
the touch screen "very frustrating to operate."



Mr. Malone said touch screens give the bank more flexibility than
keypads. "It's much easier to make changes to the screen design and
possibly put more buttons on that screen."



Steven B. Mendelsohn, a New York attorney and an advocate for the
blind, agreed with Mr. Chong that keypads are preferable to touch screens,
"but most banks are moving to touch screens, and to require those
institutions at this point to design a whole separate machine for blind
people" is unrealistic.
http://www.americanbanker.com


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