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From: Nilesh Singit's Blog: Disability News Wolrdwide
To: [email protected]
Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2012 1:49 PM
Subject: [New post] ATM devised for sightless customers
New post on Nilesh Singit's Blog: Disability News
Wolrdwide
ATM devised for sightless customers
by Nilesh Singit
Bella Jaisinghani TNN
Mumbai: A group of organizations working to make
the city disabled-friendly would have made Louis Braille proud on his birth
anniversary Wednesday. Having devised a range of software programmes and
gadgets that could be used by visually handicapped people, they unveiled the
collection at a special function in Bandra, held to mark his birthday. Among
them was an automatic teller machine (ATM) that blind people can use to
withdraw money.
“We inaugurated an online Braille library that
allows students to download files and print them to read. There is a full
display of access technology like low-vision aids and teaching aids,” said Sam
Taraporevala, head of sociology at the Xavier’s Resource Centre for the
Visually Challenged (XRCVC). The institute partnered the National Association
of Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehradun, in this exhibition.
NCR Corporation, which manufactures ATMs,
demonstrated a machine that can be used by sightless customers. “It is a
regular ATM fitted with auto-guidance software,” said Nagesh Nayak,
professional services practice manager of NCR. “One can use a regular headphone
and plug it into the jack to receive instructions and operate the numeric
keypad on the machine.” Operative buttons like ‘Enter’ and ‘Cancel’ are
embossed and codified.
It would help to have Braille stickers affixed to
the numeric keypad, though Nayak says that just about 10% sightless people read
the script. “The raised dot on the number 5, which is a feature of most
keypads, comes in handy to detect the rest of the numbers. People who go blind
later in life are scarcely familiar with Braille, it is mostly the young who
read it,” he said. As for security, should a sighted person catch a glimpse of
the screen while a visually-challeged person is operating the machine, all he
would see is a blank screen.
Unfortunately, banks have been slow to take to
this technology primarily for the initial investment it would entail. “However,
the Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines to say that one-third of all
the new ATMs must be accessible to the blind,” says Taraporevala.
Times Of India
Nilesh Singit | January 5, 2012 at 13:49 | Tags:
Blind, UNCRPD | Categories: Accessibility, Advocacy, Disability, Disability
Studies, Technology, WCAG | URL: http://wp.me/pyosb-jo
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