Under RPWD Act 2016, it is mandatory for all public facilities and amenities,
including banking, to be made accessible. The Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has come up with parameters that set down accessibility
standards to be followed by banks in the country.
Compliance, however, is a tricky matter, with most banks going
slow in this regard.
Which makes recent measures by HDFC Bank to improve banking
facilities for disabled customers a welcome step. Some of them are still
works in progress but broadly they include:
All this is a culmination of a two-year effort by Mumbai-based lawyer
Amar Jain who worked with HDFC Bank to improve the banking
experience for disabled people. Jain, who is visually impaired is an HDFC
customer since 2013. While the law recognizes thumb impressions as valid
signatures, his initial requests for debit and credit cards were rejected by
ground staff as he was “risky”. Jain had to approach senior management
for relief.
In 2017, when Jain’s request for a credit card upgrade was rejected for the
same reasons, he took the matter up in right earnest.
If you can give someone a card, how can you deny them an upgrade? That
became a turning point. Since then, I have been working with HDFC Bank on
this issue. – Amar Jain, Lawyer
Over the last two years, Jain held meetings with senior HDFC Bank officials
to raise the issues faced by customers with disabilities.
“Like there is a special card for blind customers for ATM use, but these
were not migrated into the system. They issued a special card for me and I
informed others as well. I also alerted them to issues faced by non-HDFC Bank
customers and they rolled out a process where all customers could use the
card. They are in the process of fixing the mobile banking app and
net-banking facility as well”.
Commendable steps no doubt but ensuring uniformity across banks is a
challenge.
“Even opening an account is a challenge,” says Sunil
Sangtiani, a visually impaired entrepreneur in Jaipur. “Most of
the time, we have to fight. I used to have an account with ICICI Bank, and I
was denied a current account because they refused to accept thumb
impressions. I had to learn how to sign. Then they changed the interface and
I had to depend on other people for help. I then opened an account with HDFC
Bank but here too I face issues with getting checkbooks, debit and credit
cards.”
Facilities apart, there is a need to build greater sensitization
among bank staff, points out Jitendra Solanki, a financial
planner, who specializes in advising families with disabled relatives.
“Two years ago, I was at a bank in Dehradun when a deaf person walked in
seeking a loan”, says Solanki. “There was no interpreter around and no
staff member could understand him. He spent almost an entire day trying to
get someone to understand him. For that matter, take the case of someone with
dyslexia, for whom filling up a form is a struggle. Most executives sitting
at the front end would not know how to help as they are unaware of the
problems of disabled people. Inaccessibility is an issue, so is
sensitization.”
Budding lawyer Maitreya Shah concurs. This visually impaired
student from Gujarat was denied a checkbook even though he had a current
account.
“The bank said I could not use checks though the rules say I have all
access. The reason they came up with was that they did not have the
technology to verify thumb impressions. They also sent me an internal bank
circular which said visually impaired customers are divided into literate and
illiterate, with those using thumb impressions branded illiterate. I am a law
student, so how does the label of illiterate apply to me? The RBI rules had
been interpreted by the bank officials in this way!”
What such instances highlight is a larger failure on the part of all service
providers and product manufacturers to look at disability inclusion as part
of their business accommodation. Time for an attitude change, says Jain.
“It is high time customers with disabilities are recognized as equal and
important stakeholders, who should not be left behind.
Source: https://newzhook.com/story/20971
