The text of the agreement and ATM locations can be found at
http://www.nfbp.org

-- Press Release --

 TALKING ATMs IN PENNSYLVANIA
October 3, 2002 -  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The National Federation of the Blind of Pennsylvania (NFB-PA) announces that
the Disabilities Law Project, acting on behalf of the Federation and its
individual members, has entered an agreement with Citizens Bank to implement
the
installation of hundreds of voice guided ATMs through Pennsylvania for
banking customers who are blind or visually impaired.  The agreement follows
a
lawsuit that had been filed against Mellon Bank in July of 1999.  The
lawsuit, the
first of its kind filed in the Unites States, challenged Mellon Bank's
continued
practice of purchasing new ATMs without voice guided instructions for blind
ATM users under the new equipment provisions of the Americans with
Disabilities Act
(ADA) and prompted several other banks thereafter to start installing
talking ATMs throughout the U.S.

Mellon Bank had unsuccessfully argued that providing Brailled labels and
keypads was a sufficient accommodation under the ADA to enable blind ATM
users to
conduct their banking transactions.  This position did not consider the fact
that only 10-15% of people who are blind can read Braille, and that for even
that small number of people who do read Braille, the Brailled information on
Mellon's ATMs did next to nothing to help customers understand the
interactive instructions appearing of the ATM computer screen.  ATMs
equipped with voice
guided instructions and prompts heard through inexpensive personal
headphones are very effective at enabling blind ATM users to conduct banking
transactions privately and independently without the assistance of strangers
standing in
line behind them. "Fortunately, the Court correctly interpreted the ADA's
requirements for accessible ATMs and it flatly denied Mellon Bank's
ridiculous and flawed legal arguments," stated Thomas H. Earle. Earle along
with Robert
Meek, two civil rights attorneys from the Disabilities Law Project in
Philadelphia, filed the case against Mellon Bank.

Late last year, Citizens Bank purchased virtually all of Mellon Bank's
retail banking branch locations including all of its ATM locations in
Pennsylvania.
Almost immediately, representatives from Citizens met with the Disabilities
Law Project to express their commitment to quickly install hundreds of ATMs
equipped with the voice guidance feature.  Within a period of just a few
months,
Citizens Bank and the Disabilities Law Project entered an agreement whereby
Citizens
will be installing 326 talking ATMs by May 31, 2003.  The arrangement with
Citizens Bank made the pending lawsuit against Mellon Bank moot and the
Plaintiffs in
the case voluntarily dismissed their legal claims against Mellon. "Citizens
Bank's quick recognition of the need for accessible ATMs and its
implementation of
the talking ATMs in such a short period of time demonstrates its commitment
to
providing all customers, including those who are blind or visually impaired,
with the best banking service in Pennsylvania," says Jim Antonacci, the
president of the NFB of PA. Antonacci, who is also blind, further states,
"Citizens talking ATMs work great and we are very pleased with their
corporate citizenship in the Pennsylvania banking industry."

Information about the locations of the talking ATMs in Pennsylvania can be
obtained from www.citizensbank.com
or www.nfbp.org
or by calling the NFB of Pennsylvania  at 215-988-0888.


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