Talking ATM Locater in India

Know what a Talking ATM is? You know but a recap: facilitating independent transaction to the visually impaired – the Talking ATM has raised buttons, gives voice guidance via headphone and for secrecy and security reasons lets the blind to turn off the screen. Read a detailed article here.

Talking ATM is an excellent piece of accessibility, but often people with visual disabilities remain unaware about it even if it stands near them. Therefore, the necessity of a tool to check the availability of Talking ATMs was felt – prompting the trio of Sameer Thakur, Prashant Naik and Saidarshan Bhagat to launch the first Indian Talking ATM Locator in the form of TalkingATMIndia.org.

This Talking ATM Locator was inaugurated by Harish Kotian – the Assistant General Manager of Reserve Bank of India (Mumbai) at the Access India convention organized in Delhi on Feb. 14, 2014.

This locator is compatible with computer screen readers. All the main mobile-based screen readers, too, support this locator – making it easy for the visually impaired users to search an accessible ATM on the go, in an unfamiliar region.

“With Google Maps,” says Sunil Sangtani, Director, Chandra International, Jaipur, “we are able to search ATMs, not Talking ATMs. But this locator has proved very useful to getting to the nearest Talking ATM in whatever area we wish.”

Anshu Goyal, Single Window Operator at Punjab National Bank, Hisar, says, “After using this locator first time I came to know about the Talking ATMs in my city. I am happy that my city has one accessible ATM.”

Currently Union Bank of India, State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have made the list of their Talking ATMs available, other banks have to follow suit.

Steps to use Talking ATM Locator:

1. A combo box will appear asking you to select the desired state
2. Mark radio button search by PIN (Alt + P) or radio button search by Area (Alt + R)
3. Type the selected text (PIN or Area)
4. Tap the search button (Alt + S) to bring up the table of results

The website offers easy access, content is simple and precise, and above all, the Talking ATM Locator is quick and easy to use. A good effort by the trio – showing a signpost towards the nearest Talking ATM.

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Written with the help of Shadab Husain of PersonalityAndEnglish.blogspot.in.

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Happy Birthday Talking ATM

Exceeding the needs of the customers is the catchword of all the enterprises but the inference of those words does not seem to be more than a cliché. It rarely happens that this ambitious commitment is fulfilled, and by launching the first truly accessible Sampurna Talking ATM for the visually impaired on Jun. 6th, 2012 at Vastrapur, Ahmedabad – in the Indian state of Gujrat – the Union Bank of India has fulfilled this commitment in full letter and spirit. Proving that they stand by their motto “Good people to bank with“ the bank also offers comprehensive instructions manuals in braille and DAISY formats to its visually impaired customers.

How it works

First and foremost, the designers of the Talking ATM have devoted adequate attention to the user’s privacy. Put on the headphone that remains hooked up to the ATM, and swipe the UBI ATM card (or an ATM card belonging to any other bank) to hear the instructions via a voice output. The instructions are available in Hindi and English (English in Indian accent); you can choose your preferred voice. The feature of turning off the screen makes the transaction secure thereby providing the visually challenged user the much-needed confidence and comfort to carry out the transaction.

Says Ranjana Rana, Senior Project Officer at National Association for the Blind, Delhi, “Now I can do the entire transaction on my own. Earlier I was dependent on a sighted assistance for everything and used to only key in the PIN.”

Is it all?

There is more for those unfamiliar with the machine as they receive an audio description to orient themselves with the different parts of it and can also locate Clear, Cancel and Enter buttons. These three key buttons, which give a beep sound on being pressed, also have especially raised symbols so that the user can touch and understand the button he needs to press. Low vision users can increase the font size to operate the machine hassle-free.

Is it a wonder then that due to the sensitivity and intelligence demonstrated in choreographing such a machine the UBI has had its name engraved in the Limca Book of World Records?

But in the wider context the picture is not so perfect.

There are a host of visually impaired people (including visually impaired bankers at key posts) who have not been able to use the Talking ATM. David Richards, of Tamil Nadu, laments, “Majority of the blind have heard of Talking ATM systems but have never been able to use them because they are hardly available.”

Richards importantly highlights that more than most of the cities, particularly small ones, are deprived of the Talking ATMs. Despite the initiative shown by Union Bank of India and State Bank of India (SBI installed its first Talking ATM on Oct. 4, 2012), the pace of installing these ATMs is slow. “However,” points out Himanshu Sahu of Kolkata, “we must appreciate these initiatives and cheer up a steady growth despite the slow pace."

In its Circular issued on Apr. 13, 2009, the Reserve Bank of India has instructed that ”Banks should make at least one third of new ATMs installed as Talking ATMs with Braille keypads and place them strategically in consultation with other banks to ensure that at least one Talking ATM with Braille keypad is generally available in each locality for catering to needs of visually impaired persons.”

This instruction would have kindled hopes in the hearts of the visually impaired all over the country, but a great deal rests on its implementation.

Beginning of the Talking ATM

It began to brew in 1984 with the concerns kept forth by Chris and Marie Stark – two blind customers of the Royal Bank of Canada. In 1991, it snowballed to a discrimination complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission, resulting to the launch of the world’s first Talking ATM on Oct. 22, 1997 at a branch of RBC in Ottawa, Ontario.

Important links:

• Demo of Talking ATM
• Talking ATM Location
• Handbook on Truly Accessible Talking ATM
• Download Accessible PDF format handbook (English)

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