Accessible Technology in Today's Business

Author Gary Moulton, LaDeana Huyler, Janice Hertz, Mark Levenson Pages 256 Disk 1 Companion CD(s) Level All Levels Published 05/01/2002 ISBN 9780735615014 ISBN-10 0-7356-1501-2 Price(USD) $34.99 To see this book's discounted price, select a reseller below.	More Information About the Book Table of Contents Sample Chapter Index Related Series Related Books About the Author Support: Book & CD Rate this book

Chapter 4: Accessible Technology in the Financial Industry

• A Long History of Helping People with Disabilities
• A Barrier-Free Workplace Is Good Business
• Brad Gillespie: "Everything Is So Much Better Today."
• Building a Company-Wide Commitment to Accessible Technology
• Peter Sheahan: A Typing Splint and Trackball Are All He Needs
• Hassan Qazilbash: Progress, Yes— But Still a Long Way to Go
• Geoff Jones: "Without This Technology, I Wouldn't Be Working."
• Technology That Helps Customers
• Sharlyn Ayotte: She Turned Her Disability into a Business Opportunity
• Dream Products for People with Disabilities
• Lessons Learned
• Summary

Chapter 4   Accessible Technology in the Financial Industry

Lakhani sought help from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). The Institute initially suggested that she learn how to type so she could at least work as a secretary. This she did and then drifted through a series of jobs as a receptionist, a clerical support person, a gift shop clerk, and a cafeteria worker. Her dream of a professional career seemed unattainable.

At that point, CNIB steered Lakhani to RBC Financial Group, an employer that, even 25 years ago, was trying to help people with disabilities find jobs. RBC Financial Group hired Lakhani as a typist. Although both she and the bank were anxious to make their employment relationship work, Lakhani was new to functioning in an office, and RBC Financial Group was doing its best to make its offices disability-friendly. Lakhani's assistive "technology" consisted of a handheld magnifying glass that a CNIB counselor had provided for her first day of work.

During her first 10 years at RBC Financial Group, Lakhani worked hand in hand with the company to find jobs that were suited to both her abilities and the assistive technology available at the time. In 1985, Lakhani moved into the bank's customer service area. She graduated to a device called a closed-circuit television (C.C.T.V.) made by Visualtek. This was a 13-inch television monitor attached to a tripod-mounted camera. When Lakhani put written materials under the camera, it projected enlarged pictures of the material onto the monitor. It wasn't a perfect solution, however. When someone walked by, the camera often picked up and projected shadows, making Lakhani dizzy. Still, with the bank converting all customer records to microfiche, she wouldn't have been able to do her job without the Visualtek.

Today, Lakhani is still working at RBC Financial Group. She's watched the company progress light-years beyond its early experience helping her as a young employee with a vision disability. But she's pleased with the progress she's made. Today, she uses a standard PC running Microsoft Windows and equipped with ZoomText Xtra screen magnification software (from Ai Squared at http://www.aisquared.com). With that solution, she can access any material her sighted colleagues can. "As more people with disabilities came on board, the support improved," Lakhani says.

Now consider the story of Eric Chiu, a customer service representative in RBC Financial Group's Card Services division. He was a baby when Lakhani began her workplace odyssey. Totally blind, Chiu joined the bank in 1998. On his first day, he was fortunate to be able to use a PC equipped with the JAWS screen reading software and a Braille display. "There were already quite a few low-vision and blind people working at the bank, even right here in my department, so the technology and the procedures were already ironed out," he says.

Because he was new to computers, Eric took some extra time to train in basic PC functions as well as JAWS. But the technology he used had been identified, tested, and approved, and was ready to be ordered (and paid for) by the bank.

A Long History of Helping People with Disabilities

It also takes seriously its commitment to provide quality customer service to all its customers and challenging employment to all its employees. To wit

• In 1992, RBC Financial Group was the first bank in Canada to provide Braille statements to customers on request.
• In 1998, RBC Financial Group became the first bank in North America to offer audio, or "talking," automated teller machines (ATMs) for people with visual impairments. Customers use a headset with a microphone to complete private banking transactions.
• In 1998, RBC Financial Group became the first financial institution in Canada to create an "Employees with Disabilities Advisory Council."
• In 1999, this same council developed the "I Make It Barrier-Free" program, which provides a budget to help managers overcome the barriers in hiring people with disabilities.
• In April 2000, RBC Financial Group cosponsored a national conference entitled "Wellsizing the Workplace," which encouraged the business community to tap into the employment potential of people with disabilities.
• More than 90 percent of RBC Financial Group's branches are accessible to people with disabilities.
• RBC Financial Group offers large-print checks and alternate format bank statements as well as other documents in Braille and large print, on audio cassette, and on computer disk. More than 13,000 customers took advantage of this service in 1999.

According to former RBC Financial Group Chairman and CEO John Cleghorn, removing barriers for customers and employees is simply good business. "If you want to be a business leader and want access to top talent and enhanced market opportunity, you should absolutely promote accessibility—it is not a regulatory issue," he says. Cleghorn is referring to Canadian government regulations that require federally regulated industries such as banking to hire certain percentages of people with disabilities (along with women, visible minorities, and aboriginal people). "As to government incentives, including favorable tax incentives and tax breaks to provide for technical and physical aids in the workplace, we don't use them," Cleghorn declares. He insists that, although such incentives might be important in the small business market where many new jobs are created, the rewards of equal employment justify themselves.

RBC Financial Group Policies and Programs for People with Disabilities

RBC Financial Group has developed thoughtful, detailed policies and procedures regarding the employment of people with disabilities. The bank is committed ".to providing workplace accommodation for any individual with a disability or special need.who meets the job requirements to perform the essential duties of his or her job." These accommodations can include technical equipment: personal supports (e.g., interpreters and attendant care), renovations to premises, workstations, flexible work schedules, and the reassignment of duties.

The bank's Employees with Disabilities Advisory Council comprises 19 individuals from departments across the bank and all over the country. Its objective is to promote a better understanding of the abilities and needs of staff and clients with disabilities. The council makes recommendations to the company to eliminate barriers to marketplace and workplace opportunities. And it provides the tools and resources to support increased representation of people with disabilities.

In 1999, the council launched a program called "I Make It Barrier- Free," which empowers managers to spend up to $3,000 per employee with a disability per year. This allows managers to move quickly to outfit workspaces with the equipment necessary for a new employee to get to work as quickly as possible without special funding requests and lengthy approval chains. Funding for expenses more than $3,000 is still available but requires approval. If the cost is ongoing (e.g., interpreter services), the manager includes it in his or her yearly budget.

A Barrier-Free Workplace Is Good Business

Being able to hire the best talent is one benefit of removing barriers for people with disabilities. Another benefit is retaining valued employees who acquire disabilities over time. "The population is aging, and people are losing hearing, vision, and mobility as the years progress," says Burke. "This affects employees and customers. We have to keep up with their need for support, or we'll find ourselves in the position of not being able to serve our customers or leverage employees' talents." Adds Cleghorn, "With 58,000 employees, RBC Financial Group is like a small city. If it affects society, it affects RBC Financial Group."

Accessible and assistive technologies also help to prevent or delay disabilities such as deteriorating vision or carpal tunnel syndrome. "Everyone wants the ability to tailor their work environment to their greatest comfort, and accessible technologies let you do that," Burke says. "All employees can leverage features built into the Windows operating system and Microsoft applications to resize fonts on screen, turn off graphics on Web sites, alter colors, modify mouse and keyboard settings, and so forth. This universal design makes things simpler and boosts productivity for all."

The bank doesn't have figures on how many of its 58,000 employees make use of such built-in accessible technology features, but it's actively developing a process to capture this information. "We'd like to know what technology our employees actively use so we can develop it."

Where customers are concerned, more financial services are going virtual, and it's imperative that RBC Financial Group look beyond physical accommodations such as wheelchair ramps in branches. Customers are using computers and automated teller machines more frequently and need to be able to interact with the bank via a computer screen. Any assistive technologies the bank can offer customers or recommend helps its competitive position and allows it to better serve customers.

The bank has achieved a lot in its decades-long commitment to hiring people with disabilities and has many firsts in removing barriers for people with disabilities," Burke says. "However, our work in this area is not finished. We've invested heavily in assistive technology over the past three years, and we're just beginning to leverage it with our internal applications. Today, approximately 1,000 employees have self-identified as having a disability; that's about three percent of our Canadian workforce. Some of these newer technologies will open up many more new jobs at the bank for people with disabilities."

Brad Gillespie: "Everything Is So Much Better Today."

In 1993, RBC Financial Group acquired Royal Trust, and Gillespie continued in collections but moved into a department that used an auto-dialer. "A blind person had never used an auto-dialer at RBC Financial Group before," he recalls. "The bank had an outside vendor modify the dialer for use with my screen reader software, and that worked great."

When the bank standardized on JAWS for screen reading, Gillespie was able to tap into much more functionality on his desktop. "JAWS works great with all Microsoft software," he says. "And RBC Financial Group's Systems and Technology Group has written a fair number of scripts to enable JAWS to read many screens in the DOS-based application that Card Services employees use to do their jobs."

Collections and customer service people at RBC Financial Group use a custom DOS-based application called TS2 developed by Total Systems Europe PLC (http://www.totalsystems.com). TS2 is a scripted program that walks customer service and collections employees through conversations with customers. It consists of dozens of screens for various functions, such as displaying customer account information, credit bureau records, and so forth. Employees access TS2 in terminal emulation mode from their PCs. Developers in Systems and Technology write scripts that tell JAWS where everything is located on each screen. This takes time, and Gillespie has become proficient at scripting JAWS himself in order to supplement the resources available in Systems and Technology. Developers must take a snapshot of every screen in TS2 and write a "roadmap" so JAWS can find it. These scripts are invoked by keyboard commands (hot keys) that users have to memorize.

"It's a pretty involved process, to be sure, scripting JAWS commands to each and every screen in the bank's DOS-based application," Gillespie admits. "The Microsoft applications work great with JAWS without any modifications from Systems and Technology, but we need those scripts to do our jobs."

In addition to TS2, which he uses most of the day, Gillespie uses Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, and Internet Explorer. "I take advantage of the accessibility options in Internet Explorer to format the screen differently so it's easier for JAWS to read," he explains. "I remove the extraneous graphics and use keyboard navigation." Gillespie uses several Web sites to locate customers who have moved and to check addresses, phone numbers, and other data. He also frequently accesses RBC Financial Group's intranet to keep up-to-date on company news.

A Braille display complements his JAWS equipped PC. Gillespie uses the Braille display when he needs accuracy—to check spelling of a name or to verify account balances. The rest of the time he lets JAWS read his screen to him. He also uses a scanner to import written materials into his computer so that they can be read back to him or saved. And he uses a Braille printer and his two-way telephone headset.

"Everything is really so much better today than it was 10 years ago," Gillespie says. "People who are blind could never access the information that they can today. Only three percent of all written material is available in Braille. Now, with technology and the support of RBC Financial Group, there's virtually nothing I can't access."

Last Updated: April 7, 2002

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