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Insights and Expertise

StreetSmarts SM

Pathways to accessible payments

By Allen Kopelman ATMs, POS, kiosks
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. ADA guidelines for ATMs were introduced on March 15,
2012. After deploying ATMs for 11 years, I saw machines
he Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) get outlawed for being too high for people in wheelchairs
was signed into law July 26, 1990, and ISOs or not having optimized function keys for visually im-
and ATM deployers got busy ripping out and paired people. This meant entire lines of equipment had
T replacing terminals and ATMs that didn't meet to be ripped out and replaced everywhere. It seems ev-
ADA standards. Thirty-five years later, business own- ery year brings a new regulatory or security mandate for
ers are still paying fines and penalties for noncompliant ATMs and credit card machines.
devices and websites.
I recalled a friend who owned a building and received a
I recently interviewed Josh Basile, an attorney, disability complaint from an attorney about sidewalk access to his
rights advocate, philanthropist and community relations building. It was an expensive way to learn he needed a
director at accessiBe, a web accessibility solutions provid- ramp.
er, on B2B Vault: The Biz to Biz Podcast.

Basile acknowledged that there are "drive-by" attorneys
Our discussion helped me realize that ADA compliance who flag noncompliant merchants but emphasized that
is more than avoiding fines and checking boxes. It's about good attorneys bring cases for the right reasons. ADA, he
leveling up all points of interaction, throughout stores, added, is an important protection; businesses that imple-
hotels, restaurants and websites, to enable customers to ment ADA guidance and best practices can avoid drive-by
transact with dignity and independence in their own pre- lawsuits and improve the customer experience.
ferred ways.
Ecommerce, websites
Basile, who became a C45 quadriplegic following an ac-
cident as a teenager, uses voice dictation software, on- With online shopping a preferred channel for disabled
screen keyboards and screen readers to navigate the in- consumers, accessibility providers offer a range of shop-
ternet. "If accessibility is not properly done, I could get ping cart integrations and plug-ins with Shopify, Woo-
stuck on a homepage or be unable to access a dropdown Commerce, WordPress and other leading platforms. Free
to get to the next page," he explained. website scanning tools evaluate and score website pages
and identify areas in need of improvement. Merchants
"Or I could be blocked from entering a credit card at can add accessibility widgets to their sites that enable cus-
checkout or unable to read sites that don't support my tomers to personalize their website experiences.
screen reader."
"I think all customers love having options," Basile said.
"I may want to read more on one site and shop or fill out

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