Why an ATM Maintenance Parts Manufacturer Puts Braille on All ATMs

You see them there all the time and unless of course you are blind, you probably ignore it. There is braille on virtually any ATM you come across. You may not have thought much about it, but it is an interesting thing to think about. Why can you not find an ATM that does NOT have braille and why does an ATM maintenance parts manufacturer feels compelled to always have braille on every ATM that is dispersed into the world?

There are a number of reasons. For one, there are specific guidelines that make it required. In section 4.34.5 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities, it states that all instructions and information must be made accessible and useable for people with vision impairments. This is definitely reason enough for manufacturers to include braille on all ATMs. But on top of this, there are practical reasons why it is always there.

When manufacturing the ATMs and the parts they are made of, many of the same parts are created, despite the fact that there are many different types of machines. This includes lobby ATMs, walk-ups, and drive-trough's. An ATM maintenance parts manufacturer can save money and create efficiency by using the same parts on many different types of ATMs. Keypads that, of course, need braille for a large number of ATMs is one of the parts that often make sense to produce in large quantities and make useable on many different machines.

Another thing to consider is that although the visually impaired may not be able to drive up to a drive-thru ATM, that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of reasons why they wouldn’t be in a situation in which they would need to use one of those machines. It can cause security issues if the visually impaired were required to get assistance from others. Overall allowing the visually impaired to use any ATM, even drive-thru ones, is a clear need for those in whom it affects. So how could a blind person use it? The most common way would be that the visually impaired person is sitting in the back or on the passenger side. Someone may have given them a lift to the ATM, but that doesn’t mean they should be in control of the ATM, coming across sensitive financial information. So having braille on every single machine, along with being required legally, also causes real-world benefits beyond what you may have thought through.