Article

Canada's approach to disabled access

Instead of relying on federally mandated access rules, as is done in the U.S., Canada has its own way of dealing with access at kiosks and ATMs.

March 20, 2002

In the U.S., if you are disabled and can't access a kiosk or ATM, you may be able to sue the manufacturer because the machines are in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA.

The country that flies the red maple leaf flag does things differently.

When asked if Canada had federal laws that specifically required access to kiosks or ATMs, David Campbell, vice president of professional services for London, Ontario-based kiosk software maker Visible Advantage Corp., said, "Not yet. And I haven't heard anything that is going to bring it to the forefront at the moment."

And there probably never will be.

A different standard

Mary Frances Laughton, chief of the Canadian government's Assistive Devices Industry Office, a group that advises businesses that help people with disabilities live more independently, thought it unlikely that the Canadian government would ever adopt any legislation regarding access.

"That's not how Canada works," she said.

A private company, the Canadian Standards Association, creates and publishes standards requested by consumer organizations, trade associations or government departments. A business doesn't have to adhere to the CSA's Automatic Banking Machine Standard (designated B651.1-01), which it released last year and sells for about $65 (U.S.). That is, unless someone complains and the business is found to be at fault.

Upholding the Charter

Instead of federally-mandated standards, Canada's 1980 Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees access to the disabled.

"All access issues are covered under the Charter," Laughton said. "It makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of disability."

Canada's Human Rights Tribunal hears cases brought to it by citizens.

"If one feels one is being discriminated against, one can go into a Charter complaint, and then the Tribunal will rule on it," she said.

Even though the Automatic Banking Machine Standard isn't legally binding, it is valuable for evidence in access cases.

"Now that there's a banking machine standard, it makes it easier for folks to complain to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal," Laughton said.

If the Tribunal rules against the business, it, and all businesses the ruling applies to, must comply.

"For example, a couple in Ottawa complained against the Royal Bank because it wasn't providing statements in Braille. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that people with visual disabilities had a right to receive their statements in Braille and that then applied to all of the banks," she said.

Geoff Fernei, director of of the Toronto, Ontario Centre for Studies in Aging, and professor in the department of surgery at the University of Toronto, said that his organization helped the CSA draft the standard, which took five years to complete. Though the standard doesn't specifically mention kiosks, it can apply to them.

"Obviously that's the intention, eventually," he said.

According to Fernei, who wrote one of the two papers that the standard was based on, the standard offers some improvement over the ADA used in the States.

"It's got a few little things that are different. One of the things that we are suggesting is a vertical grab bar for the seniors to hold on to while they're standing at the kiosk. It's rather important. Falling is a common problem when standing still and then trying to move away from an elevator button or a kiosk. It also helps you stand up from a scooter or a chair."

Whether or not U.S. laws are too prescriptive, it does modify its laws on occasion. The federal Access Board will release its suggested revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act/Architectural Barriers Act (ADA/ABA) before the end of the summer (see ATMmarketplace's "Vision for the future").

The Canadian Bankers Association, Fernei said, participated in writing the CSA standard. Its membership is voluntarily adopting it.

Generic laws

As KIOSKmarketplace reported in May, when the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act was written, kiosks weren't known to legislators. The 1991 rules defining how the law was to be applied mentioned ATMs, but not kiosks. Under the ADA Accessibility Guidelines for Buildings and Facilities, the "Automated Teller Machines" section specifies reach ranges, controls and accessibility for persons with visual impairments. (see "Kiosk access made EZ.")

This June, an amended Section 508 of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (not to be confused with the ADA), required federal departments and agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to individuals with disabilities. Section 508 specifically names kiosks.

But Canada doesn't specify such fine-grained details in its laws, according to Laughton.

"Our laws are less prescriptive," she said. "A U.S. law says that something has to be three feet by seven feet by two feet by one inch and be pink in color, and that's defined. And if that becomes stupid, that law continues to exist until it is repealed."

A look at U.S. regulations underscores Laughton's point. For example, in Section 508:

"The position of any operable control shall be determined with respect to a vertical plane, which is 48 inches in length, centered on the operable control, and at the maximum protrusion of the product within the 48 inch length."

Canada's approach is more laid back.

"The way the Canadian legal system works is by saying that the thing must be accessible to the greatest number of people and it must provide at least access to this and not offend somebody. You end up with the same result," she said. "But our laws don't have to change."

The CSA will shortly focus its attention specifically on kiosks. It's setting up a kiosk committee to develop a kiosk standard to insure access.

"The ABM (automated banking machine) standard has gone a long way to doing that, but there are very clear things that kiosks do that ABMs don't. It's to insure that there is a standard for kiosks as well," Laughton said.