FW: Citibank installs talking ATMs

FYI,
Cynthia D. Waddell

---------------------------------------------------
Cynthia D. Waddell   
ADA Coordinator
City Manager Department
City of San Jose, CA USA
801 North First Street, Room 460
San Jose, CA  95110-1704
(408)277-4034
(408)971-0134 TTY
(408)277-3885 FAX
http://www.rit.edu/~easi/webcast/cynthia.htm
http://www.aasa.dshs.wa.gov/access/waddell.htm 



-----Original Message-----
From: Lainey Feingold, Esq. [mailto:Lfeingold@california.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 1999 1:18 PM
To: uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu
Cc: ldar@sgdblaw.com
Subject: Citibank installs talking ATMs 



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CALIFORNIA COUNCIL OF THE BLIND 
ANNOUNCES NATION'S FIRST 
"TALKING TOUCH SCREEN ATMS" AT CITIBANK


OAKLAND, CA November 9, 1999 - The California Council of the Blind announced
today the installation of pilot "talking" automated teller machines ("ATMs")
at
five Citibank locations in California. The pilot machines are the first to
combine touchscreens with technology that speaks information that sighted
users
see on the screen. Users will hear the on-screen information through
headsets
to ensure privacy.  The pilot machines have been installed at the following
Citibank financial centers: 

1. Downtown Berkeley - 2323 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, California 
2. Downtown San Francisco - 260 California St., San Francisco, 
California 
3. San Carlos - 780 Laurel St., San Carlos, California 
4. Los Angeles/Westchester - 8800 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles,
California 
5. West Los Angeles/Rancho Park - 2566 Overland Ave., West Los Angeles,
California

Don Brown, the California Council's Berkeley chapter President, praised the
new
machines: "Citibank's machine is tremendous - it allows me for 
the first time to do a variety of banking transactions unassisted. This 
is a great step toward making access to banking services a reality for
people
who are blind or vision impaired."
The pilot machines have been installed pursuant to an agreement reached  in
July between Citibank and the California Council of the Blind and members of
the blind community, who approached Citibank to discuss how the company's
ATMs
could be programmed to communicate audibly with blind and low vision
consumers.
Lawyers for the blind community in these discussions were Linda M. Dardarian
of
the Oakland law firm of Saperstein, Goldstein, Demchak & Baller, Berkeley
disability rights lawyer Elaine B. Feingold, and the Berkeley-based
Disability
Rights 
Education and Defense Fund. 

SAPERSTEIN, GOLDSTEIN, 
DEMCHAK & BALLER 
Linda Dardarian
A Professional Corporation 
1300 Clay Street, 11th Floor 
Oakland, CA 94612 
(888) 316-8870

ELAINE B. FEINGOLD 
Law Office of Elaine B. Feingold 
1524 Scenic Avenue 
Berkeley, CA 94708 
510/848-8125





Lainey Feingold
Law Office of Elaine B. Feingold
1524 Scenic Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94708
(510) 848-8125
(510) 548-5508 (fax)
lfeingold@california.net

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Received on Tuesday, 9 November 1999 17:21:58 UTC