June 25, 2000

By JOSHUA BROCKMAN

For the estimated 1.1 million Americans who are legally blind, using an automated teller machine can 
be an exercise in frustration.

While many teller machines have Braille keys and labels, most blind people do not read Braille. Even for those who do, advocates for the blind say that the Braille-equipped machines are next to useless 
because they require the user to follow a sequence of visual instructions on a screen.

“Most of the blind people or partially sighted people I know do not use A.T.M.’s,” said Betty Bird, a senior 
vice president for rehabilitation programs at Lighthouse International, a nonprofit center in New 
York City for the blind and visually impaired. “They go stand in line in the bank and do it the old-fashioned 
way, which of course limits the hours of the day, and the days of the week, that you can access your accounts.”

But over the last year, as a result of pressure from the California Council of the Blind, three major banks — Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo — have installed several dozen teller machines that talk, or 
respond to voice-guided instructions, in several cities. The user plugs an earphone or a headset into 
an audio jack to receive voice prompts; information on the monitor is read out loud.

Now the National Federation of the Blind has gone to court in Washington to increase the number of talking 
teller machines. Two lawsuits, under the Americans With Disabilities Act — one against Chevy Chase Bank, 
the other against Diebold Inc., which makes the machines and equips Rite Aid drugstores with nontalking A.T.M.’s — seek to ensure that the machines can be used by the blind.

Tiffini Bloniarz, a spokeswoman for Diebold, said the company “firmly believes that its products meet 
current federal A.D.A. guidelines for persons with disabilities.” In a statement, Chevy Chase Bank noted 
that the bank “is committed to providing all of its customers with the best in banking convenience as 
evidenced by an extensive branch network, A.T.M. network” and a daily telephone contact center.