In the true spirit of inclusion

It is an organizations responsibility to address the accessibility needs of blind, deafblind and partially sighted consumers, ensuring its compliance with acts of legislation pertaining to regulations, policies, programs, practices and services.  All too often, however, we hear negative press surrounding the lack of accessible services provided by organizations, resulting in the failure to effectively meet the diverse needs of their consumers.

I recently came across a news release that highlighted the proactive measures, rather than the obligation enforcement of an organizations effort to ensure accessibility for all customers.  Verizon Communications has engineered its products, communication materials and staff training to be fully representative of its consumer base, providing an inspiration to both customers and similar providers looking to integrate alternate format communications into their organizational culture.  In light of this exciting release, I wanted to take the opportunity to showcase other telecom, banking and retail organizations that have made, or are in the process of making significant improvements to service delivery by developing comprehensive accessible format policies and practices.

From the increased and growing number of available talking ATM’s since the first Canadian installation in 1997, and its American counterpart in 1999, it is evident that banking institutions are recognizing both the importance and benefit of providing such accessible machines for blind, deafblind and partially sighted customers.  For example, Wells Fargo committed to ensuring that all of its branch ATM’s offer an audio output option as of December 2007, and Bank of America has installed over 11 000 talking ATM’s to date.  Other banks and retailers following suit are Citibank, Washington Mutual, Citizens Bank, Sovereign Bank, Union Bank of California, LaSalle Bank, Bank One (Chase), Fleet (Bank of America), First Union (Wachovia), and 7-Eleven.  The majority of large Canadian institutions such as Royal Bank, CIBC, TD and Bank of Montreal also offer a number of accessible machines for visually-impaired customers.

Many organizations within the financial, telecom and retail sectors are working to bring their websites into compliance with Priorities 1 and 2 in adherence with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).  On the banking front, Bank of America, Sovereign Bank, LaSalle Bank, Washington Mutual and Union Bank of California are among those currently being reviewed for accessibility enhancements.  This year, Citizens Bank agreed to remove a visual CAPTCHA from their site that appeared after accessibility improvements had been made.  RadioShack became the first national non-bank retailer to move towards ensuring compliance with Level AA (Priorities 1 and 2) of WCAG 1.0, and Verizon Wireless has made considerable improvements to its site to address overall accessibility.

To date, there are five national retailers that have agreed to replace flat screen point of sale devices with tactile keypad units at select cash registers within stores.  Blind, deafblind and partially sighted consumers are unable to independently complete transactions with these inaccessible devices, and are therefore forced to disclose their PIN to another individual for payment.  This year, in addition to RadioShack (who currently has over 5000 POS units installed in the U.S.) and 7-Eleven (who is currently working to replace all flat screen POS units in U.S. stores with tactile keypads), Wal-Mart, Safeway and Trader Joe’s continue to improve accessibility and usability for consumers.

In order to ensure that customers can access their transaction or call details, the following organizations are providing monthly statements in alternate formats: Bank of America, American Express, Wells Fargo, Sovereign Bank, LaSalle Bank, Union Bank of California, Citizens Bank, Washington Mutual, Smith Barney, Citigroup, Golden 1, KeyBank, Verizon Wireless, CIBC, Royal Bank, Toronto Dominion, MacKenzie Financial, Bell, Fido, and Rogers Wireless.

These organizations should be commended for their proactive and implementation efforts. Their recognition of accessibility importance, along with consultation with industry experts, consumer groups and the end user not only exhibits true leadership, but also sets precedence for other organizations in the true spirit of inclusion.