riverside, California is 55 miles east of Los Angeles.  it should be
noted that NCR had talking ATM's available for sale in 1993, which is
when the ADA ATM regulations took effect.

Kelly
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE (RIVERSIDE, CA.)
Saturday, September 28, 2002

Talking ATMs to help blind en Espanol:
MONEY TALK: The blind use headsets  that plug right into the terminals.

By JONATHAN SHIKES

Before he used a talking ATM for the first time, Peter Benavidez was
concerned that the machine would repeat his pin number out loud.

"Then the person next to me or behind me would hear it," he said. "But
no, I discovered that they have headsets that you plug right into the
console."

Since then, Benavidez has changed his mind about the machines, which are
designed to help blind and visually impaired people make transactions as
easily as everyone else. "I believe they make a difference," said
Benavidez, who has been legally blind since birth. "They are very
user-friendly."

This year, in an effort to take that friendliness a step beyond its
competitors, Washington Mutual is installing ATMs that can speak in both
English and Spanish. Through mid-September, the Seattle-based financial
institution had outfitted 45 ATMs with the necessary hardware and
software, including locations in Lake Elsinore, Chino Hills and Pomona.

By the end of the year, the company plans to upgrade dozens more,
including eight in the Inland area.

Benavidez, who is head of the nonprofit Blind Support Services Inc. in
Riverside, grew up bilingual. He said the ability to bank in their native
tongue will mean a lot to visually impaired Spanish-speakers.

"One of things we promote here is the independence of people who are
blind or visually impaired, so going out and doing your own banking,
specifically with these machines, is a plus," he said.

"All the things we do at our office, we make sure everything, brochures,
braille, cassette tapes, are in Spanish as well as English."

Nearly 25 percent of the agency's clients are bilingual or speak Spanish
only, he added.

Although the technology needed to make talking ATMs is relatively new,
there are already hundreds in California, with most owned by financial
giants Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Each one is noted on a list kept
by the California Council of the Blind.

By 2005, Washington Mutual will be a major player as well, said bank
spokeswoman Lisa Margolin-Fehr. The company plans to have around 600
talking ATMs in the state and 1,500 nationwide, all of them bilingual.

"When we started working on the program two years ago, because of ATM
technology, we were able to add a second language," she said. "We think
this is a worthwhile thing to do, and although we do provide some
products and services in other languages, Spanish is our primary second
language."

Benavidez said that about 3 percent of the U.S. population is blind or
visually impaired. That includes 87,000 residents of Riverside and San
Bernardino counties.

In recent years, several blind groups have pressured major bank chains to
begin complying with a group of federal standards called the Americans
With Disability Act Accessibility Guidelines. The guidelines require that
ATMs be "accessible to and independently usable by persons with vision
impairments." But they don't mention talking ATMs because the technology
didn't exist when the rules were written, said Nessa Feddis, senior
federal counsel for the American Bankers Association.

In 1999, it was proposed that the rules be changed to require audio
output, and last month, that proposal was finalized.

It won't become law until the Department of Justice adopts it, a process
that could take two or three years, Feddis said.

"But my recommendation is for banks to take a serious look at what has
been adopted and to start using it as a blueprint." * * *

SE HABLA DINERO

By the end of the year, Washington Mutual will have one bilingual,
talking ATM in each of the following cities:

* Corona

* Fontana

* Hemet

* Murietta

* Redlands

* Rialto

* Upland

* Victorville


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