FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CALIFORNIA COUNCIL OF THE BLIND
ANNOUNCES NATION'S FIRST
"TALKING TOUCH SCREEN ATMS" AT CITIBANK


OAKLAND, CA November 9, 1999 - The California Council of the Blind
announced today the installation of pilot "talking" automated teller
machines ("ATMs") at five Citibank locations in California. The pilot
machines are the first to combine touchscreens with technology that speaks
information that sighted users see on the screen. Users will hear the
on-screen information through headsets to ensure privacy.  The pilot
machines have been installed at the following Citibank financial centers:

1. Downtown Berkeley - 2323 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, California
2. Downtown San Francisco - 260 California St., San Francisco,
California
3. San Carlos - 780 Laurel St., San Carlos, California
4. Los Angeles/Westchester - 8800 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles, California
5. West Los Angeles/Rancho Park - 2566 Overland Ave., West Los Angeles,
California

Don Brown, the California Council's Berkeley chapter President, praised the
new machines: "Citibank's machine is tremendous - it allows me for
the first time to do a variety of banking transactions unassisted. This
is a great step toward making access to banking services a reality for
people who are blind or vision impaired."
The pilot machines have been installed pursuant to an agreement reached  in
July between Citibank and the California Council of the Blind and members
of the blind community, who approached Citibank to discuss how the
company's ATMs could be programmed to communicate audibly with blind and
low vision consumers. Lawyers for the blind community in these discussions
were Linda M. Dardarian of the Oakland law firm of Saperstein, Goldstein,
Demchak & Baller, Berkeley disability rights lawyer Elaine B. Feingold, and
the Berkeley-based Disability Rights
Education and Defense Fund.

SAPERSTEIN, GOLDSTEIN,
DEMCHAK & BALLER
Linda Dardarian
A Professional Corporation
1300 Clay Street, 11th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
(888) 316-8870

ELAINE B. FEINGOLD
Law Office of Elaine B. Feingold
1524 Scenic Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94708
510/848-8125





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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