International Issues

This topic includes posts about digital accessibility and accessible technology, including Talking ATMs, in countries outside the United States. The companies that manufacture Talking ATMs, accessible pedestrian signals, and other accessible technology have buyers around the world. Because technology is global, advocacy needs to be too.

Talking ATMs in Brunei, Southeast Asia

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
Today’s Talking ATM Google Alert brought news of the first Talking ATM in Brunei, a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. The country’s official name is Brunei Darussalam, meaning Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace. The news came via a blog post, reprinted here, by Lim Sheng Ming. The blog post was based on an article, reprinted in full here, that was published in the Borneo Bulletin and reprinted on the Brunei Direct website. As the article mentions, Brunei is getting its Talking ATMs after Standard Chartered Bank successfully launched them in Korea, China, India and Indonesia. Visit the International Issues category of this website for other posts about ATM installations outside the United States. The ATM industry is global, and advocacy must be too. Read more… Talking ATMs in Brunei, Southeast Asia

Chen Guangcheng, Activist Lawyer, is a Hero (Oh Yeah, and He’s Also Blind)

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
As a lawyer who has represented the blind community for the past seventeen years, I feel a particular affinity for the story of Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese lawyer and human rights activist whose bravery has captivated news audiences the world over. Chen is being recognized across the globe for his courageous human rights work and his movie-quality escape from house arrest, Is he capturing media attention in part because he is blind? Maybe. While under any definition Chen would be a hero worth celebrating, Chen’s blindness is certainly part of what makes his story so compelling. Read more… Chen Guangcheng, Activist Lawyer, is a Hero (Oh Yeah, and He’s Also Blind)

Talking ATMs in India

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
The June 6, 2012 Google Alert for Talking ATMs included a news report, posted below, of the “first” Talking ATM in India. It was not the first time the Indian press covered accessible ATMs though. In September 2011 the Hindu Business Times reported on the experience of using a Talking ATM for the first time, but on closer read last Fall’s story may just have been describing temporary installations. Whether or not Union Bank of India has installed the first or second Talking ATM, congratulations go out to advocates in the Indian blind community and that country’s banking industry for recognizing the importance of accessible technology. Read more… Talking ATMs in India

NCR Installs Additional Talking ATMs in India (with solar power option too!)

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
The article posted here about NCR’s Talking ATMs in India first appeared in the Hindu Business Line. The Law Office of Lainey Feingold, and Linda Dardarian, first engaged with NCR in the mid-1990’s as the Talking ATM initiative was getting underway in the United States. This story about NCR’s Talking (and solar-powered!) ATMs demonstrates yet again that accessibility is an international issue. Accessible technology that starts in one country is bound to make its way around the world. The technology corporations are global, advocacy needs to be too. Blind advocates are not mentioned in the story below, but no doubt they played an important role in efforts to bring independent access to financial services to India. Read more… NCR Installs Additional Talking ATMs in India (with solar power option too!)

Rick Santorum’s Most Recent Enemy? Millions of Disabled People Around the World

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
On Tuesday December 4th, the United States Senate can join over 120 other countries and ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Supporters of the treaty span almost the entire political spectrum – President Obama, Senate Democrats, the U.S. disability community, 21 faith organizations, 30 veteran organizations, movie critic Roger Ebert, and the U.S Chamber of Commerce and former president George HW Bush, to name just a few. Who’s missing? The Tea Party wing of the Republican Party. Led by Rick Santorum and Tea Party front group Patriot Voice, the far right threatens to derail years of work by human and civil rights activists around the world. The CRPD vote will be a showdown between Tea Party activists and those who believe people with disabilities around the world deserve education, employment, and basic human and civil rights. Read more… Rick Santorum’s Most Recent Enemy? Millions of Disabled People Around the World

GOP Paranoid Politics Defeat CRPD Disability Treaty in Senate 61 – 38

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
Senator Kerry was eloquent. 89-year old Bob Dole emailed from Walter Reid hospital and made it to the Senate floor to urge a yes vote. Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng wrote a supporting letter. Veterans, disability and civil rights group lobbied, tweeted, and organized. But it wasn’t enough. On December 4, at 9:29 a.m., thirty eight Republican Senators voted against the United Nations Convention of the Rights of People with Disabilities (#CRPD). Thirty eight votes is all it took to deprive the majority of the 2/3 vote needed to ratify a basic human rights treaty already approved by over 120 countries around the world. Yesterday at 9:29 a.m. human rights lost. The victors, to quote the New York Times, were “purveyors of paranoid politics.” Read more… GOP Paranoid Politics Defeat CRPD Disability Treaty in Senate 61 – 38

Historic Copyright Victory for Blind Readers

Posted on Updated on March 10, 2016
Congratulations copyright activists around the globe! What some are calling the “Marakesh Miracle” happened on June 25, 2013 as negotiators ironed out the final details of an historic treaty protecting the reading rights of people who are blind and have other print disabilities. After five years of activism, organizing and hard work, The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) concluded negotiations on the treaty which contains limitations and exceptions to copyright for blind and visually impaired persons and others with print disabilities. Copyright changes are critical for blind people to obtain reading materials in formats they can use, such as Braille, electronic formats, and audio books. The treaty, once ratified and adopted, will create improved access to books around the globe. The draft document now goes to the full United Nations plenary for adoption and review and, ultimately, ratification and implementation. Read more… Historic Copyright Victory for Blind Readers

Central and West Java in Indonesia gets First Talking ATMs

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International Talking ATM installations remind us that advocacy work done in one country can have ripple affects across the globe. ATM manufactures distribute their technology around the world, and slowly, slowly this technology is becoming more accessible everywhere. Today’s news brought word of the first Talking ATMs in Semarang, Central Java and Surabaya in East Java, Indonesia. The full news report, which first appeared in the Jakarta Post, is reprinted below. Visit the International Issues Category of LFLegal for more stories of Talking ATM installations outside the United States. Read more… Central and West Java in Indonesia gets First Talking ATMs

Pakistan ATM Advocacy: Blind Community Success

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In August of this year, blind advocates in Pakistan demanded an end to widespread discrimination against blind people by the banking industry in that country. Their advocacy has paid off. In early December 2009, the Islamabad-based International News and The Nation published articles, posted here, with the headlines “Banks directed to permit blind people to open accounts” and “Ministry to install ATMs for visually impaired.” The articles report that all banks in Pakistan will now be required to allow blind citizens to open their own bank accounts and will issue information in Braille to facilitate banking independence. And, for the first time, Talking ATMs are being planned for installation in Islamabad. Efforts to end discrimination in Pakistan against people with disabilities in insurance and micro-lending are also underway. Read more… Pakistan ATM Advocacy: Blind Community Success