I bank with PNC in Hoboken N.J. as PNC recently took over Midlantic bank.

I haven't compared many ATMs, but my PNC bank has an awkward lay-out.
Firstly, the number pad is flush with the surface of the surrounding
surface, and the buttons are not easily distinguished from each other.
There is braille next to, not on top of, the buttons. The purpose of the
braille is to show the arrangement of the buttons, which are to the left
of the braille. All that the braille does is to show that the lay-out of
the buttons is just like a telephone keypad. Isn't that useful?

There are no audio prompts, so to take out cash by myself, I'd have to
remember the sequence of questions and instructions that appear on the
screen. Some of my responses have to be entered on the difficult keypad
mentioned above, and other responses have to be entered by pressing
buttons by the computer screen. In going back and forth between the two
panels of buttons, I may take too long to orient myself, and a screen may
appear asking if I need more time. Of course, I can't read that screen and
my sequence of eight or so responses will be thrown off.

I realized that trying to do this would be rediculous, so I don't bother.
I recruit a stranger to help me out.

One of the first screens asks if I want to proceed in English or Spanish.
It's interesting that, in America, an English speaking blind person is at
a greater disadvantage than a sighted person who can't read English. Would
I be better off regaining my sight and moving to Costa Rica than staying
blind and living in my homeland?

Interestingly, PNC has a very good telebanking system. I often dial up and
navagate the menu choices without a problem. There's even a live person
available, 24 hours a day, and the menu doesn't offer a Spanish
alternative.

PNC knows, from its telebanking system, that it is easy to serve the
blind, and they probably don't think of it as an accommodation because it
is designed for ease of use by everybody. Give the public the option of
looking at a computer screen, and suddenly the bank gets all confused as
how to "accommodate" the blind customer.

If the bank would simply install a customer service telephone at its ATMs,
which I have found at other banks, I could use its ATM with no problem, so
long as I can keep my fingers on the telephone keypad and listen to
prompts through the handset.

I'm sure that this is not much of a technical feat. It just requires
designers to not be so sight-biased.

Until the revolution comes, I accommodate by transacting through a live
teller, or recruiting a stranger from the ATM line, or getting cash back
from the super market. All of these options involve human interaction,
which is kind of quaint in this computer age, but it is kind of nice in
its own way.

Peter Seymour


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html