I look forward to additional reports from Frank and the advocacy efforts
of the ACB chapter in Albany, New York on how they worked to enable a
small, local bank to install a talking ATM at their community college.
Congratulations to Frank and the crew.  Please share your local ATM
access success stories so we can all learn how to make ATM access happen
in our communities.

Kelly



From: "Frank Casey" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 11:13 PM

Below is information concerning a probable start-up date for a talking
ATM on the campus of Hudson Valley Community College, near Troy, New
York. Mike O'brien, one of the members of the Capital District Chapter of
the American Council Of The Blind, in Albany, New York, has been doing a
considerable amount of follow-up on this particular ATM project, and I'm
pleased to forward Mike's most recent progress report on this particular
ATM project.

Frank R. Casey, President, Capital District Chapter,

American Council Of The Blind,

Albany, NY

[log in to unmask]

This morning, I was phoned by my contact in the department responsible
for ATM issues at Pioneer Savings Bank, and was told that if all goes
well, the bank's ATM machine at Hudson Valley Community College, Troy,
NY, will offer voice output access, beginning Monday, June 17th. In one
way, the timing couldn't be better, since this is scheduled to happen on
my first day back from a week-long schooner cruise in Maine. On the other
hand, I probably will have to miss a hands-on demonstration training
session on Braille Note, since I want to be available when the ATM
service technician is testing the machine so I can give him feedback on
how well it works. Decisions, decisions!

Once the machine is working, I'll send you the official announcement, and
send an article about the advocacy process behind it, to the editors of
the ACBNY Newsletter and the Braille Forum, for there consideration.

Keep in mind that Pioneer is a relatively small, local bank. If they can
Provide this service, this will be a great example for larger banking
institutions.

We can only hope all goes well, since this may be the first voice
accessible ATM in Upstate New York and much of New England.

Mike


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