Disabled cut off from ATM use

By JOSIE CLARKE

Automatic teller machines are proving more trouble than they are worth for people with disabilities who cannot reach the keyboards.

Most ATMs are too high for people in wheelchairs to reach - and every time they use an ATM within reach that belongs to a bank other their own they are liable to be charged a fee.

A spokesman for the disabilities group Spin, Dennis Gudgion, said the problem was common, although banks usually waived the fees for people who could not reach their ATMs.

But Mr Gudgion said waiving the fees did not solve the problem. ATMs should be accessible to disabled people.

He understood machines suitable for people of all heights were being made in the United States and hoped they would soon be available everywhere in New Zealand, not just in certain areas.

"At the moment, services like these for disabled people are usually only introduced as tokens. It takes years for them to become the norm."

Shaun Ollard, who is confined to a wheelchair and cannot reach the keyboards of most money machines, said that banks were discriminating against disabled people.

He banks with WestpacTrust, but is often forced to used a rival bank's machine.

Every time he uses another bank's money machine WestpacTrust charges him 50c.

WestpacTrust spokeswoman Jane Anderson said she did not realise her bank's machines were higher than others.

"I'm sure if [Mr Ollard] talks to us we'll do what we can to help him."