If you are wondering what you might say to the access board about talking
atm's, here's some comments from Michael.  Comments are still being
accepted at [log in to unmask]

Be sure to include your postal address to ensure that the comments get
recorded.

kelly




>>From: Michael Byington <[log in to unmask]>
>>I thought i might share a copy of my comments to the Access Board just in
>>case they encourage some others to comment with their own stories.
>>
>>----------
>>From:   Michael Byington[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>>Sent:   Monday, May 08, 2000 10:13 AM
>>To:     [log in to unmask]
>>Subject:        accessibility for automatic teller machines (ATMs)
>>
>>I am writing in support of accessibility standards which will make ATMs
>>accessible to all, including those who are totally blind or who have low
>>vision. The current standards proposed by the access board would have this
>>impact if not weakened by the efforts of an industry which, from some of
>>its comments, quite obviously doe not believe that people who are blind
>>have the basic right or need to live competitive, independent,
>>self-directed lives.
>>
>>I am at the top end of legal blindness. My vision is at about 20/200 full
>>field. I travel extensively in my job, and I do not like to carry much cash
>>at any given time because, if robbed, I would not be able to give a clear
>>accounting of the features of the perpetrator. I therefore use ATMs a great
>>deal, and usually it is a machine I am not used to using. I have found
>>that, with great difficulty, and considerable use of visual aids, I can see
>>about 75% of all ATMs. The problem is, I often can not tell which ones I am
>>not going to be able to see until it is too late, until I have already
>>given the machine my card. Even when I can see most of the provisions on a
>>machine, I occasionally miss that one little point which tells me the one
>>final thing I must do to get my card back. I may thus in such cases end up
>>with my cash, but with the machine keeping my card. Because of these types
>>of problems, I seem to lose from five to ten cards per year in ATMs. My
>>bank thinks I am their most irresponsible customer because of this and I
>>experience both embarrassment and frustration when I go in to get the card
>>replaced yet again and again. I have had to get nasty with them on several
>>occasions because they have threatened to make me close my account and open
>>another one because they say they do not want to issue more cards on the
>>account I currently have. I have had this account for over 20 years. I am
>>used to the account number and I have some automatic payments set up on it.
>>It would be a major task to change accounts or account numbers. I have thus
>>continued to fight with the bank and have so far prevailed in getting new
>>cards eventually issued, but this is a hassel I should not have to endure.
>>If all ATMs were accessible to all users, whether they have full vision,
>>partial vision, or no vision, then I would not have to wonder if I can use
>>a given ATM, or if I can use it, if I can use it well enough to end up with
>>both my money and my card. This should be my right under the ADA. As I have
>>told my bank, I have grown quite unwilling to continously apologize for my
>>low vision just to keep a bank card in my possession and to thus continue
>>to be able to work and travel competitively.
>>
>>My wfe is totally blind. There is no ATM in our neighborhood which she can
>>use independently. Some blind people are willig to attempt to memorize the
>>sequence os steps on the screen so that they can use an ATM near their home
>>or work. This is something which should not have to happen, and my wife's
>>experience is that doing this memorization and learning is not worth
>>bothering with. About the time she gets comfortable using an ATM which she
>>has learned, the bank which owns it changes it out for a newer, usually
>>even less accessible, model.  She should have the same right to the same
>>level of access as I do or as a totally sighted person does. My wife and I
>>both work; we both earn money which goes into the bank account, but she
>>does not have the same level of access to get it back out.
>>
>>This is an absolutely wrong headed way for the environment to be. We are
>>simply not willing to accept less access than everyone else has to modern
>>banking.
>>
>>Michael Byington
>>Director of Governmental Affairs
>>Envision Governmental Affairs Office
>>924 S. Kansas Ave.
>>Topeka, Kansas 66612
>>(785) 354-4747
>>[log in to unmask]
>>
>>************************************************************
>>* ACB-L is maintained and brought to you as a service      *
>>* of the American Council of the Blind.                    *
>>************************************************************



Lainey Feingold
Law Office of Elaine B. Feingold
1524 Scenic Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94708
(510) 848-8125
(510) 548-5508 (fax)
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