The History of the National Federation of the Blind in Fight for the Accessible ATMs

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) started in the 1990s to improve the accessibility of ATMs in the US. Marc Maurer, president of the NFB, tells the story of a struggle for equal rights for the blind and the fight with banks and ATM manufactures

In the 1990s, ATMs where not accessible for the blind and vision-impaired banking customers had to rely on relatives and friends when getting money from the ATM. Around that time, the NFB proposed regulations 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,” according to Maurer. “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,” and this became the law.

In 2000 the NFB was still working on the effort and finally found a US-based partner that was willing to manufacture accessible ATMs and support the NFB in research and training facilities. Maures says that the Diebold Corporation “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 (USD) over five years.”

The NFB says there are approximately 1.1 million blind people in the United States and some experts estimate this population will double within 15 years. With this amount of users, the NFB can be proud of their achievements in the fight to enable the blind to access ATMs.

Source ATM Marketplace, USA. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, at the recent ATMIA East Conference in Miami.