Associated Press
U.S. Bank installs Minnesota' ' s first voice-guided ATMs for visually
impaired
By KARREN MILLS / AP Business Writer
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- U.S. Bank on Monday began operation of Minnesota' s
first voice-guided automated teller machines in the new U.S. Bancorp Center,
making
the ATMs more accessible to visually impaired people.
The two machines look like standard ATMs but have headphone jacks on the
front where visually impaired customers insert their headphone plugs then
listen
for voice prompts to guide them through transactions.
The first prompt states: " Welcome to our UBank ATM. Please insert your
card, magnetic stripe (or the reverse side of the raised letters) down, for
service."
Most customers can find where to insert the card by touching, but the card
reader also has a braille indicator, said Marge Utke-Christianson, manager
of
ATM services for U.S. Bank,
Once the card is inserted, the voice continues, " Please enter your Personal
Identification Number." Further instructions offer direction in how to
cancel
or restart the process, how to ask for more choices or how to request a
receipt.
" You hear the same thing a sighted person would see on the screen, "
Utke-Christianson said. The keypad, arranged like a telephone keypad, also
has braille
numbers.
" You don' t have to read braille to use the keypad if you know the keys, "
she said.
U.S. Bank will install 14 more voice-guided ATMs at seven Minnesota
locations this year, Utke-Christianson said.
" It' s something that as we buy new machines we will automatically include
this feature, " she said.
" One of the most inaccessible items for blind people has been the ATMs, "
said Joyce Scanlan, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National
Federation
of the Blind.
" It has been both an issue of privacy and practicality. Banking is
something you want to take care of yourself without having to ask a friend
or bank teller
for help, " Scanlan said.
Although most ATMs already provide instructions for the blind in Braille,
the written language of raised dots cannot reproduce important information
such
as an account' s balance, which appears on the ATM' s electronically printed
receipt.
The voice ATMs will recite such information to the customer through the
headphones, which blind people routinely carry. The headphones also are
available
at the U.S. Bancorp service desk.
The U.S. Bank machines are similar to machines Wells Fargo & Co. introduced
last year in California after being threatened with a class-action lawsuit
for
violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The act guarantees equal
access to public facilities.
Wells Fargo is in the process of installing the voice ATMs at more than 1,
500 locations throughout California. If the voice ATMs are well received in
California,
Wells Fargo expects to roll them out in other markets, said spokeswoman
Teresa Morrow.
Lawsuits were filed against other banks in federal court in Washington,
D.C., and Pennsylvania in an attempt to get the banks to offer voice ATMs.
" The lawsuits helped us understand that there had been a technical solution
that had been agreed upon by the visually impaired community, "
Utke-Christianson
said. " The lawsuits helped bring a broader perspective of what solutions
were out there in marketplace."
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