Page 5 - Mainstreamer e-Magazine 01 June 2022 - Final (4)
P. 5
BARRIER FREE SOCIETY
In Malaysia, there are still no audio
support ATM provided by banks,
so blind and visually impaired
persons have to ask for help from
other customers or the person
accompanying them. (Photo by:
Muhammad Marwan Mohd Tanos)
Disabilities Act 2008 also state that persons with sighted people; therefore, we can argue that
disabilities equally have access to service and provisions in the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008
information technology in the proper format. are not fully implemented.
However, the law does not instruct what the
appropriate format is, nor the level of accessibility Due to financial and geographical limitations,
and the type of service that persons with disability my research focused on blind and visually impaired
can access. The most important thing is that the persons in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
punishment mechanism has not been mentioned Through a snowball technique, I identified my
if individuals or organizations violate these research participants for the study. I chose to
provisions. employ a mixed-method research design as it is
more accessible and flexible to carry out for a blind
Recognizing this particular challenge researcher like me. The study was divided into
encountered by blind and visually impaired two stages. First, I reviewed existing secondary
persons, I conducted a study to explore the data obtained from prestigious journals, books,
challenges faced by the blind and visually impaired and government and international organization
persons in using bank services and banknotes. websites. Then, I collected data using observation
Zooming out our point of view in the global and survey distribution.
context, the first talking ATMs have been already
installed in India and Pakistan. Meanwhile, to I asked research participants to perform several
support the blind community, Malaysia Central tasks. First, I observed how they identify banknotes
Bank has already introduced a cash test card (CTC) by hand-touching and using cash test cards (CTCs).
for the blind community to measure and identify I also asked and observed research participants
different banknotes. perform banking transactions using both websites
and mobile applications. In the second stage of
Plus, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the study, I went to several commercial banks to
University Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam, examine the support facilities, procedures, and
has developed a device named Currency Note attitudes of commercial banks towards blind and
Recognizer (CNR), to assist blind people in visually impaired customers.
distinguishing between different banknotes.
However, not many blind persons know about Despite the study limitations and the emphasis
these devices. They also voiced that the devices on de-generalization of the research findings, I
are not convenient if they have to deal with a large found that no policy to address this particular
amount of money or when they are in a hurry. issue. The majority of the blind and visually
Every product information in the commercial banks impaired research participants, government
has just been issued to meet the demands of agencies, and NGOs were merely aware of the
Vol. 01, Issue 1 | June 2022 4
