Kat,

I was working at a bank in the early '80s installing the (then) new ATMs.
There were only two at the time: IBM and Diebold.  Both had braille chars on
the touchpad and buttons even then, We were told that it was to allow blind
folk to type in their own pin, even though there is no braille output.
Entering the PIN is always the first transaction, so the blind individual
would know when to type.  You're right--it was a half-assed attempt at
accessibility and they haven't improved in 25 years.

Kyle

-----Original Message-----
From: Kat [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2003 12:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: A Weird Question


OK, this is primarily for Gary, but here goes.

I was using the ATM machine in my building to get some money for lunch, and
I suddenly noticed the buttons have Braille on them, in raised dots.  Now,
it's nice and dandy that they have the dots, but how would a blind person
know what was showing on the screen?  The machine doesn't voice the commands
or anything, and I didn't see anything on the machine itself that would turn
on a voice synthesiser.  So are the Braille dots useless for blind people
for all practical purposes?

Like I said, it's a nice try but they could have gone the whole way.

Kat