People often ask how they can get their local bank (which is not one of
the large financial institutions currently with a talking ATM program) to
instal talking ATMs.  Two blind bank customers in Vermont took on four
financial institutions in their state when they filed a complaint with
their state's human rights commission.  The article below says that two
banks have settled and two more are in the process of doing so.
Congratulations to BJ Patterson and Jean Shiner for their work that will
benefit all of us and their leadership.  They have wonderfully
demonstrated that you can create access right in your own backyard and
don't need to live in a big city financial center to make this happen for
you and others in your community.

Kelly


Burlington, Vermont  Free Press
April 3, 2002


Banknorth, Northfield Savings to install talking ATMs


By Sue Robinson
Free Press Staff Writer

Banknorth will install "talking" automated teller machines at 400 of its
475 ATM locations in New England and New York over the next five years in
a settlement with the National Federation of the Blind.

The move is expected to cost Banknorth $4.8 million.

The bank will upgrade the first one in the Burlington branch this summer,
and have either new machines or make modifications on old ones in all 36
Banknorth Vermont branches over the next two years, Banknorth spokesman
Brian Arsenault said Tuesday. Each new machine costs about $35,000, and
each upgrade about $3,500.

"This was something that we had been looking to do but the NFB certainly
got us to focus on it and accelerate everything we were thinking,"
Arsenault said.

Talking ATMs provide audio instructions via headsets that guide blind
customers through bank transactions. NFB contended that even though most
ATMs have Braille keypads, customers cannot match the numbers up to a
constantly changing screen. NFB said the banks violated the Americans
with Disabilities Act.

"I am just extremely happy that I am going to be able to access and do
what I need to do independent on the machines," said BJ Patterson, a
blind woman from Montpelier and president of the Vermont affiliate of the
National Federation of the Blind.

She named Banknorth along with Chittenden Bank, Northfield Savings Bank
and the Vermont State Employees Credit Union in a suit that she filed
with Jean Shiner, also of Montpelier, in March 2001. The suit was filed
with the state's Human Rights Commission. All of the banks have either
settled or are in the process of settlements.

Northfield Savings also announced Tuesday it modified two Barre machines
three months ago with the voice-guidance system at a cost of about $3,500
each. The bank plans to introduce one new "talking" machine a year at its
other six locations in Northfield, Montpelier, Randolph, Waterbury,
Bethel, and Waitsfield.

Vermont State Employees Credit Union has said it agreed to buy modified
ATMs as it expands its three-ATM network in the Montpelier area.

Chittenden Bank said in early February that the Burlington bank would
spend $250,000 over five years to modify or replace 35 of its 68 ATMs.
NFB said that was not enough, and continues to push for more talking
ATMs, faster.

Chittenden Bank remains in discussions with NFB, said Bob Galea, director
of marketing for Chittenden Bank. Contact Sue Robinson at 660-1852 or
[log in to unmask]


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