Law Office of Lainey Feingold
Disability Rights Legal Advocacy

Posted here is a press release announcing Bank of America’s most recent accessibility initiative — its commitment to ensure the accessibility of security features on its website and iOS mobile applications.

Bank of America Continues its Leadership Role in Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments

New Accessibility Commitments for Online and Mobile Application Security Features

March 19, 2013 - Charlotte, NC and Watertown, MA - As part of its long-standing commitment to customers with visual impairments, Bank of America announced today that it is enhancing the accessibility of its award-winning Online and Mobile Banking security features.

Bank of America’s security features allow customers to safely access their accounts from home computers and mobile devices. The accessibility enhancements announced today will apply to both Online and Mobile Banking on Apple products with iOS operating systems.

Since its early commitment to Talking ATMs and web accessibility in 2000, Bank of America has had a leadership role in providing accessible services to customers who are blind and visually impaired. Posted here is the Bank’s most recent settlement agreement with the blind community, addressing the accessibility of security features on the bank website and mobile iOS applications Bank of America worked on this initiative in Structured Negotiations with the Bay State Council of the Blind and bank customers Carl Richardson of Massachusetts and Shen Kuan of California. They were represented by the Law Office of Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian, of the Oakland, California civil rights firm Goldstein, Borgen, Dardarian & Ho.

An important component of any Structured Negotiations settlement agreement involving web accessibility is a company’s commitment to maintain an Accessibility Information Page, or AIP. The ideal page has details about the company’s web accessibility policy, details about other accessibility services, and a phone and web-based method for the public to forward accessibility concerns, both positive and negative. The page should be easy to find on the site, preferably linked from the home page and all page footers, and searchable through the site search engine. Pages of some of the largest entities in the United States are included in this post.

Bank of America Completes Installation of Talking ATMs

Maintains Leadership Role in Services for Visually Impaired Customers

Charlotte (March 31, 2010)– As part of its long-standing commitment to customers with visual impairments, Bank of America today announced that every Bank of America ATM in the country has been equipped with voice-enabled technology. Visually impaired customers can now access more than 18,000 Bank of America ATMs, the largest network of bank-owned ATMs in the U.S.

Talking ATMs provide audible instructions in English or Spanish to persons who cannot view information on an ATM screen. These machines make it easier for people with visual impairments to withdraw cash, deposit money and perform other ATM transactions. The ATMs have audio jacks that deliver spoken instructions privately through standard headsets to protect the security of users who are blind or have low-vision.

October 1, 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the first Talking ATM installed in the United States. From that first accessible ATM in 1999, there are now tens of thousands of Talking ATMs around the world. In this post, the first of several Talking ATM posts over the next two months, you can read about early Talking ATM history.

In 2000, Bank of America was the first bank in the United States to sign an agreement to make its web site and on-line banking accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired. In the almost eight years that have passed since the bank signed the first of three agreements with the blind community, significant work has been done both by members of the blind community and by countless Bank of America employees to make sure the agreements work as they are supposed to. Recently, we learned that one of those bank employees — Amy Vaughn — had died.