BlindNews: ATMs for all
ATM Marketplace, USA
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
ATMs for all
By Marc Maurer, president of NFB
Editor's note: The following are excerpts from an address given by Marc Maurer,
president of the National Federation of the Blind, at the recent ATMIA East
Conference in Miami.
Some time ago, an actor on the MacGyver show became blind. The program tried to
work him into the script, but they didn't know how to do it. He decided there
was no choice but to abandon his acting career.
He learned about the National Federation of the Blind, and he came to talk with
us. He wanted me to help him find a way to remain in the acting business as a
blind person. It was essential for him to learn that blindness need not prevent
him from being an actor.
I decided to teach him to cook steaks over the hottest of fires. Along with me
he cooked the meat, and together we served it to our guests. With this
experience, his attitude about his capacity as a blind person changed. For a
time he went back to acting, and he explored other possibilities as well.
In 2004 the NFB opened a research and training institute in Baltimore. There we
build technology for the blind, evaluate devices and programs designed to allow
blind people to operate in today's environment, and devise new training systems
to allow blind people equal access to information.
Good intentions, bad result
In conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, we conducted science classes for middle and high school students. Some of the students built a payload for a rocket. When completed, the payload was mounted in the rocket, the rocket was fueled, and the students launched it into the atmosphere. To build the technology incorporated in the payload, the students needed an electronic multimeters, a device that measures electrical currents and other parameters. When a member of the science team ordered the multimeters, she informed the person selling it that it was needed for a class of blind students. The company official responded that the multimeter had not been designed for use by the blind and that they would therefore not sell it to us. Apparently, they thought we might hurt ourselves with it. How frustrating is this? A complex but readily available tool is not provided to us-not because we can't pay for it, not because we don't need it, and not because we can't use it -- but because we are blind. This kind of prejudice constitutes discrimination, and we were not prepared to tolerate it. Eventually we got our multimeters, but the refusal to sell them to us in the first place caused delay and hardship for the classes.
Equal opportunity
The experiences I have described help the blind recognize that we have a right to be a part of the activities of our communities. The talent we have is available for use, and we want to use it. This can be done only if we get the same opportunities that are available to everybody else. If we do not have access to technology, our talent is not limited but our opportunities to use it are. Consequently, we want to ensure that we can use the technology that others take for granted.
Partners in progress
Five years ago we increased our efforts to ensure that ATMs could be used by the blind. The Diebold Corporation had some ATMs operating in public places. When we demanded that Diebold make its machines so that they could be used by the blind, Diebold responded positively, and we formed a partnership to promote technology with characteristics for non-visual use. Diebold also promised to help us build our research and training institute with a gift of a million dollars over five years. In 2002 Congress adopted the Help America Vote Act. At our urging, provisions of this act require that voting machines incorporating technology for non-visual use are to be in every polling place in the United States by 2006. Diebold purchased a voting machine manufacturer, and they asked us to help them build the machines so that the blind could use them. These machines have been installed in a number of jurisdictions, and I myself have used one of them. Some have criticized us for our partnership with Diebold. But we are not sorry about the work we have done together; we're proud of it. Technology that is accessible to the blind is not only a good idea; it's the law. Besides, it stimulates business.
No joke
Comedians sometimes make fun of banks for installing ATMs with Braille on their buttons in the drive-up lane. They seem to think it ridiculous that a drive-up ATM should be made so that the blind can use it, and they get some laughs.However, the blind's use of such machines is not ridiculous; it is a necessity. Blind people quite often use taxicabs. They sit in the back of the taxis and lean out of the window to use drive-up ATMs. The only alternative to this method is to give a taxi driver the ATM card and PIN. Then the passenger hopes that the taxi driver remits the right piece of paper for the receipt, the right amount of cash, and the right ATM card. Most blind people mark their ATM cards, but even if the right card comes back, there is still much to worry about. It is much better to use the ATM privately, just as they were intended to be used. The comedians begin with the assumption that the blind are going to be unable to participate in the ordinary commerce of the country along with others. This false assumption bedevils the lives of the blind. Electronic commerce, along with all other commerce, should begin with the assumption that everybody will want to use it. If manufacturers started with this proposition, design characteristics for all potential target populations would be incorporated into the mechanisms placed in the stream of commerce. Those who address the widest range of potential customer needs will do the most business.
The drive forward
I have heard much commentary about what the blind
are unable to do. One item that is oft-repeated is that the blind are unable to
drive. We in the NFB have initiated a project, the Blind Driver Challenge, to
build an automobile that the blind can use. Object avoidance technologies
already exist. Several years ago a robot was designed to deliver mail in large
office buildings. One of the features of this robot was an object avoidance
program created to prevent it from running into walls and other objects. Pattern
recognition systems have also been created and installed in aircraft. Military
pilots use computers to assist them in finding objects on the ground. Global
Positioning Systems are being developed that can pinpoint the location of any
object on the globe.The difficult task in building an automobile to be used by
the blind is the interface that will provide the operator with sufficient
information to make timely decisions about the direction and acceleration of a
vehicle. We are now working with engineers to construct the interface. We are
also working on machine vision that will be incorporated into the vehicle. With
Raymond Kurzweil, the NFB is devising a handheld reading machine for the blind.
Already the prototype reads print on paper, on the surfaces of cans and on
computer screens. The next step is to add programming to the machine so that it
recognizes objects other than print-signs, pedestrians, roadways and the like.
The handheld reading machine might be programmed to tell its user about the
surroundings. It might quietly tell its owner that the closest empty seat in a
crowded theater is six rows forward and seven chairs to the right.When finally
developed, the handheld reading machine will give information about the
environment so that safe vehicular traffic will be practical for the blind.
Then, maybe we will use many more drive-up ATMs.
Making it work
Most of the devices I use have not been built especially for the blind. One
example is the hammer. I have driven tens of thousands of nails with the one I
own. How do I do it? Like most people, I hold the nail in one hand and strike it
gently with the hammer that I have in my other hand. Then I place my finger on
the top of the nail, and I swing the hammer to hit it. Just before the hammer
hits, I get my finger out of the way. I almost never hit my finger, but I drive
a nail with ease and efficiency. I suspect that sighted people look at the nail,
but this method is not available to me. I know many blind people who do what I
do, and it works.
Persistence pays
In the early 1990s the NFB asked American publishers to assist in making books
readily available to the blind -- but the publishers refused. We asked Congress
to adopt legislation requiring the publishers to make books available to the
blind through some electronic form. Congress refused, telling us that this kind
of regulatory process should be accomplished by the states rather than the
federal government. We drafted legislation to be considered by state
governments. We told members of state legislatures that blind students were not
getting books, and that the lack of education meant failed opportunity.
Twenty-six states adopted legislation to require publishers to make electronic
texts of their books available so that the blind could use them in school.
The publishers came to us to say that 26 different pieces of state legislation
created an enormous burden. They said there ought to be a federal law to make
books available to blind children, the same law that we had asked them to
support years earlier. We agreed. The law was adopted by Congress in November of
2004.
ATM initiative
In the 1990s regulations were proposed that ATMs should be usable by the blind. Many banks told us that they could not comply because the manufacturers were not building ATMs that could be used by the blind. The manufacturers told us that the banks hadn't asked for ATMs that could be used by the blind and would not buy them. Consequently, they were not prepared to build them. We decided that the talking had lasted long enough. We brought suit on behalf of the blind against a number of institutions to insist that ATMs be installed that the blind can use. We are not prepared to have the people we represent be unable to participate in the commerce of our nation. We would prefer peace and partnership. However, if we can't get these, we will use other methods to bring opportunity to the blind. I am not sure what the future of the ATM will bring. Will there be home-based ATMs, and if so, what will they look like? Will the bank teller disappear except in old movies? Will the ATM replace the store clerk-becoming a complicated point-of-sale device? Will the ATM be activated by the cell phone of the customer using it? Will the personal computer become so personal that it is transformed into an electronic identity card for an individual? Will this card become the basis for electronic commerce, required for authenticating all transactions? These and other questions might be asked in the speculative realm for the future of electronic commerce and ATMs.
Applicable audience
Which populations will use these machines, and what characteristics must be built into them to make them most useful? There are approximately 1.1 million blind people in the United States. Some experts estimate this population will double within 15 years. The majority of blind people are over 60 years old. As the population ages, blindness becomes more common. One ophthalmologic expert told me that if a human being lives long enough, he will become blind. In the latter half of the '90s, the NFB helped create America's Jobline, a system that provides job listings by telephone from America's Job Bank. We built this system to help blind people look for work. Job listings are sometimes hard to find; when they can be located, it is often hard for the blind to read them. America's Jobline solves this problem. However, we discovered that it is also useful for the sighted. Tens of thousands of sighted people have looked for work using this system. The talking voting machine came into being to assist the blind. However, it can be used by those who have problems with reading. In other words, imaginative application of these technologies makes them useful to many populations. As I mentioned previously, the NFB is working with Raymond Kurzweil to build a handheld reading machine. In the 1970s we supported his efforts to produce the first of the machines that can take a piece of print and read it aloud. He had to invent a multi-font scanner in the process of constructing the machine. The multi-font scanner is now in use in offices all over the world. Kurzweil thought that if he could build a machine that would make print auditory, he could reverse the process, making a machine that would change auditory speech into print. Today the Kurzweil dictating system is installed in many offices and hospitals. Doctors dictate to a machine that transforms their words into print.
The moral of the story is that imaginative development of specialized
technologies can produce machines that enhance and stimulate business for
everybody.
Call to action
The characteristics of electronic commerce in the years ahead are for me a
matter of speculation. However, regardless of the form that commerce takes, I
feel certain that the blind will be a part of it. We have already made this
decision. No matter how complex the technology becomes, we will find a way to
use it. You can make our participation harder or easier. We believe that it is
in your best interest to build technology that will make it simple for all of us
to participate, and we promise to be supportive of those who do. We urge you to
join with us in making the dream of an all-inclusive commercial environment come
true.
http://atmmarketplace.com/news_story_22405.htm