Darwin Award: Blind counselors taking Blind students swimming at the Beach.

Startribune.com ^ | July 21, 2003 | Tim Harlow and Lucy Y. Her

[meisterbrewer]

Are instructions for the usage of the ATM encoded in the braille?

Part of the services the bank offers blind users are braille user's guides that explain how the atms work and what buttons to push. It's simply a matter of matching up the user guide to the atm. Once a blind person enters their pin number, the atm knows they need special services and greatly reduces the number of choices. Technology - its a wonderful thing.

[Redcloak]

I think that it's the "Braille on the Drive-up ATM" thing that's got most of us confused.

[brianl703]

The problem I see with that is that even entering the PIN number requires pressing one of the "soft" keys on the side of the screen once you're done entering it.

So the ATM must know before the PIN number has even been entered, and for that reason I think there are braille instructions on the ATM which tell the user to press a certain combination of keys which let the ATM know that they need special services. (There's certainly enough braille on the typical ATM that it could be instructions).

[brianl703]

The other thing is, ATMs do not actually send the PIN number to the bank until they process a transaction (deposit/withdrawal/balance inquiry). You can hear the ones with modems that do not have the speaker turned off dial and connect at this point.

[baker6371]

This program was funded largely by a grant championed by the honorable senator from Mass., Edward Kennedy. He was quoted as saying...."Err ahh I think swimming is ere ahh very important.....Many years ago an automobile accident that I was involved in saw a young woman drown.....erer ahhh if she had been a better swimmer be it Gods will she would have lived....Luckily for me I lived.....I always credited the fact that I had ingested a fifth of chivas prior to the accident....mabey these blind kids should be blind drunk...haahhahhhaaaaa....oh....excuse me....strike that last remark.....good day...

[N. Theknow]

Just curious...I wonder how many children drowned on the same day in the US that were sighted and had sighted parents or guardians watching them?