Accessibility for blind and visually impaired

PAX delivers an intuitive payment experience for blind & visually impaired people

According to estimates by the World Health Organization, at least 2.2 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness.

For these consumers, processing payments are challenging, especially as payment devices continue to evolve toward touchscreens, making it difficult or impossible for them to enter PIN numbers in a traditional way.

This is why PAX has worked alongside RNIB since October 2018, to design a payment feature that will allow PIN entering on touchscreen displays for people with sight loss.

How accessibility mode works

Merchants tap the ‘Accessibility Mode’ icon on the PAX terminal display whenever a visually impaired customer has to pay. The device will read out the paying amount, along with basic instructions on how to proceed, using special beep technology to assist with onscreen keypad navigation.

PAX has designed the customer facing display as visually clear as possible, with excellent contrast between numbers and buttons, to allow people with partial vision to easily enter their PIN.

Tactile screen sticker

As part of UK Finances approval of the PAX A920, a tactile sticker for the screen bezel is supplied with the device. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) recommends that merchants fix this to their PAX device to facilitate PIN entry for blind or visually impaired customers.

A920 tactile sticker

Fitting instructions for the tactile sticker:

Remove adhesive backing from tactile sticker
Apply sticker to the lower half of the screen bezel, ensuring the tactile pips are oriented as below