PROlife legislators have pushed for the early passage of a bill that would provide the standards for automated teller machines (ATMs) to be accessible to visually impaired citizens.

House Bill 6305, filed by Party–list Reps. Irwin Tieng, Rene Velarde and Maria Carissa Coscolluela of Buhay, seeks to provide nonvisual method for reading or relaying the sequence of messages that appear on the screen of ATMs.

Tieng said as technology develops, more and more people rely on ATMs as a method of doing daily banking tasks.

"While many ATMs currently have Braille labels indicating the functions of some buttons, most machines do not have any nonvisual method of reading or relaying the sequence of messages that appear on the screen, " Tieng said. He said a law that would address this concern is not only prudent but also necessary to ensure that all individuals have an equal opportunity to access these machines.

"Especially now that the Philippines has already ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD), " Tieng said.

Coscolluela, for her part, said it is high time for people with visual impairments to be part of mainstream society since the country celebrates the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December of every year.

Under the bill, which shall be known as the "ATM Visually Impaired– Friendly Act," every banking institution shall maintain specific requirements with respect to each ATM within its dominion and control to provide equal access for all individuals.

Any ATM shall transmit any message through both a visual transmission system and an audio transmission system.

Source: http://businessmirror.com.ph