Talking ATM

More Talking ATMs Expected Across India

May 31, 2014Updated on March 10, 2016

Twelve years after the first Talking ATM was installed in the United States, accessible banking technology continues to spread across the globe. This month the Reserve Bank of India urged all financial institutions in the country to make sure all new ATMs are Talking. Read more…

Talking ATMs – Fifteen Years of Accessible Banking

September 30, 2014Updated on March 10, 2016

October 1, 2014 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the first Talking ATM in the United States. On this day in 1999 San Francisco unveiled the first accessible ATM in this country. Since then tens of thousands of Talking ATMs have been installed. Congratulations advocates! Read more…

Landmark Victory for Blind Advocates in Hungary: CRPD means Talking ATMs

May 23, 2013

Szilvia Nyusti and Péter Takács are blind advocates in Hungary who wanted their bank (the largest bank in their country) to install Talking ATMs. After all, they paid the same fees as sighted customers, why shouldn’t they have the same access to services and technology? After a five year legal battle in Hungary, they took their claims to the United Nations. On May 16, 2013, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued an historic ruling finding that Hungary violated the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD) by failing to ensure that Hungarian banks had Talking ATMs. Congratulations to Szilvia and Peter. Congratulations to the United Nations. Congratulations to the CRPD for working as it should in protecting the rights of people with disabilities. Shame on the United States for failing to ratify the treaty. Read more…

Wells Fargo Spanish Language ATMs Press Release

February 24, 2003

The Wells Fargo press release about its Spanish-speaking ATMs is one of several releases the bank issued as a result of its Talking ATM initiative. That initiative was the result of the agreement signed in 1999 as a result of the Structured Negotiations process. Read more…

Wells Fargo Utah Talking ATM Press Release

January 16, 2002

The press release about Wells Fargo’s first Talking ATMs in Utah was issued as a result of a Settlement Agreement negotiated using Structured Negotiations by Lainey and co-counsel Linda Dardarian on behalf of the Utah Council of the Blind and the Iowa Council of the Blind. The full Settlement Agreement, is posted in the Talking ATM Settlements Category. Read more…

First Union Press Release

October 4, 2001

This press release was issued as a result of a settlement that Lainey and Linda Dardarian negotiated using Structured Negotiations on behalf of representatives of the blind community in North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Tom Earle, formerly with the Disabilities Law Project in Philadelphia, now known as the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania, also represented the Claimants. As stated in the release, First Union, since purchased by Wachovia, installed the first Talking ATMs in several states. Read more…

Wells Fargo First Talking ATM Press Release

June 23, 1999

The press release posted here was the first in the United States to announce a plan to install Talking ATMs. Using the Structured Negotiations process, Wells Fargo worked with the California Council of the Blind and several blind individuals to reach an historic agreement requiring installation of Talking ATMs and provision of alternative formats for print financial information. This release was the first of several concerning Wells Fargo’s Talking ATM program. Read more…