Intro: The answers to Frequently Asked Questions in connection with Structured Negotiations and Lainey’s work appear below. These questions and answers are divided into the following topics: Structured Negotiations Questions, Talking ATMs Questions, and Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS) Questions. Please contact us if there is information that you think would be helpful on this page.
Structured Negotiations Questions
- What are Structured Negotiations?
- Structured Negotiations are both an advocacy method and a dispute resolution method. The method is collaborative, focuses on solution and seeks a win-win resolution to issues of accessibility. Structured Negotiations occur without litigation.
- How do Structured Negotiations begin?
- Structured Negotiations begin with a letter describing the accessibility problem and explaining the legal reasons why accessibility is required, the importance of accessibility to the disability community, and potential solutions to the identified issue. If the entity to whom the letter is sent is willing to engage in the process, a “Structured Negotiations Agreement” is signed to protect the interests of all parties during the negotiations.
- What are the results of Structured Negotiations?
- Structured Negotiations are collaborative. If all parties agree, a legally binding written settlement agreement is negotiated and signed. A current list of all Settlement Agreements reached as a result of Structured Negotiations is available on this site.
- What issues are best suited for Structured Negotiations?
- Structured Negotiations has been used to achieve Talking ATMs, accessible websites, braille, large print and audio financial information, tactile point of sale devices, and accessible pedestrian signals. The method is also potentially effective with other issues as well.
- How can individual advocates and advocacy organizations become involved in Structured Negotiations?
- If you have an issue you think might be appropriate for Structured Negotiations that involves a national, state or regional institution, and have been unable to resolve it on your own, please contact us.
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Talking ATMs Questions
- What is a Talking ATM?
- A Talking ATM is an ATM that delivers all information and instructions necessary to use the machine audibly and privately through a headphone jack on the face of the unit. A Talking ATM has a tactile keypad so a user can independently and privately enter all required information and perform all transactions necessary to use the device.
- What companies manufacture Talking ATMs?
- All major ATM manufacturers now produce Talking ATMs. In the United States, these manufacturers include Triton, NCR, Wincor-Nixdorf, Diebold, and Fujitsu.
- Which banks have Talking ATMs?
- Among the banks in the United States that have installed Talking ATMs are the following: Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Citizens Bank, Washington Mutual, Union Bank of California, BankNorth, Chase, Chevy Chase Bank, LaSalle Bank, Sovereign Bank, HSBC, Wachovia, San Francisco Federal Credit Union, and State Employees Credit Union (North Carolina). Please contact us if you know of other financial institutions that should be added to this list.
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Accessible Pedestrian Signals Questions
- What is an accessible pedestrian signal?
- An accessible pedestrian signal is a device that communicates information about pedestrian timing in nonvisual format such as audible tones, verbal messages, and/or vibrating surfaces. Working with the blind community and using Structured Negotiations, Lainey and co-counsel Linda Dardarian negotiated the first APS settlement agreement in the United States in which a city agreed to a comprehensive APS installation program. As part of that agreement, the parties negotiated Technical Specifications that provide more details about the features and functions of an APS. Additional information can be found on the website of APS experts Beezy Bentzen and Janet Barlow.
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