* * * * *

                              Missing the point

I'm at the ATM (Automated Teller Machine) pulling out some money [1] when I
notice the Braille writing beside the buttons. Now, the standard joke is “Why
do they put Braille on drive-through ATMs?” I suspect the answer to that is
it's cheaper to make all ATMs that way, or less prone to accessibilty issues
(“I'm sorry there's no Braille, we installed the wrong ATM”).

So this is going through my mind when I suddenly realize—how does a blind
person know which button to press? Yes, there is a keypad used to input your
PIN (Personal Identity Number), but there are also four buttons along each
side of the screen used to select which type of transaction, language
selection, do you want a receipt among other questions. And you know which
button to press because the selection is printed beside the button.

Printed.

What's the point of Braille if the only sound the ATM makes is this beep-beep
noise? There's no voice over going “To select a withdrawl, press ‘A,’ to
check your balance, press ‘B’ …”

Now that seems silly to me …

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2003/06/03.1

Email author at [email protected]

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.conman.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.